Tough
by AriTeir
Summary: Life in the Western Air Temple isn't all dancing with dragons and epic battles sometimes it's tough. Just ask Zuko and Katara. Zutara
1. Chapter 1

Tough

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender

There wasn't enough rice. Katara had checked and no matter how she split it up there was no way the rice that was barely enough for her Toph, Aang and Sokka was going to stretch to cover The Duke, Teo, Haru and more recently Zuko as well.

It might have been okay had there been anything to add to the rice but there wasn't. No meat, not even jerky, no vegetables, no spices, nothing. Katara was hardly a nutritionist but she knew that living off rice especially white rice wasn't good for you, they refined it somehow. That's what Haru said they took all the good stuff out, made it taste and look better but it wasn't good for you. You needed other foods to balance it.

After some very careful calculations and fractions worked out on her fingers Katara figured out that they had enough Rice to last them two weeks, if she cut everyone's servings in half and only ate one meal a day. Of course she hadn't factored several outside influences into her calculations. Zuko had said that the Fire Nation was humid in the summer, most rice went moldy within a week or so, either that or bugs got into it. There was a saying he said: if you got bored in the country you could entertain yourself by picking maggots out of your rice. Upon hearing it the others had fallen about laughing and gagging while The Duke looked up his face slightly green.

"Jet told me the wiggly ones were extra protein!"

He threw up on the floor.

Katara had cleaned it up while Zuko led the poor boy away to lie down explaining that once the maggots were in your stomach didn't mean they stayed there forever and ate away at your insides, apparently The Duke had seen something similar happen to a hog Monkey Sneers had kept as a pet. Making Katara wonder once again about the type of life the Freedom fighters had actually lived, beyond the tree houses and flying foxes.

Katara ate what would, had he not been feeling ill, The Dukes bowl of rice that night. Despite her insistence that he should stay in bed until his stomach felt more settled The Duke had refused to stay in his room alone after dark, something about his mouth being dry and not being able to spit at ghosts.

"Spit supposedly wards off evil spirits"

Zuko explained.

"Evil spirits? This is an Airbender Temple there aren't any evil spirits here!"

Teo said.

"Yeah I'll bet the Airbenders make the sissiest spirits ever you got nothing to worry about"

Toph waved a hand.

"They could be mad"

The Duke whispered

"Why would the Airbender Spirits be mad? I mean they seemed like pretty laid back kind of guys right Aang"

Sokka asked.

"Easy as the breeze in spring time"

Aang agreed.

"He's here!"

The Duke cried pointing at Zuko.

"They'd be mad because he's here!"

Everyone turned to Zuko who looked down at his bowl of rice in shame eventually after a few minutes of heavy silence Aang spoke.

"Hey you got nothing to worry about, I'm the Avatar, the great bridge between the worlds remember? If any of the Spirits get mad I'll sort it out. And I'm sure they'd understand about Zuko being here"

Katara gave The Duke a bowl of water to take to bed with him that night in case his mouth got dry. He was back to his normal self by the next morning. Eagerly shoveling his rice into his mouth he had finished his bowl just as Katara handed the last of it out.

"I'm still hungry!"

He said picking through the few grains sticking to his bowl and checking them to see they weren't moving before putting them into his mouth. Katara was just about to hand him her bowl, last meal, dinner yesterday next meal, breakfast tomorrow, When Zuko gave him his. Which didn't help her situation any, now she was compelled, honor bound if you would, to offer him hers, out of decency of course. She wanted to scream at him but instead,

"Here"

She held her bowl out to him. Zuko looked past her, his gaze lingering for a second on the cooking pot behind her, completely devoid of rice and shook his head.

"I can't today is…a holy day I'm supposed to fast."

He said.

"Really what day is it?"

Toph asked with a hint of smugness.

"The uh, ascension of Agni. It's very important in the Fire Nation you wouldn't have heard of it in the Earth kingdom"

"Agni ascended? To where?"

Aang asked. Everyone peered at Zuko.

"What do I look like a Fire Sage? It's a holy day and I have to fast okay that's all!"

He said pushing the bowl of rice back to Katara and storming off to meditate.

Oddly enough, the next day was also a holy day. Meaning that there was a mouthful more rice for everyone. It was on the third day of Zuko's fast that Katara confronted him. She had been stirring a pitiful rice congee that was more congee than rice when Zuko strolled in fresh from training, his shirt draped over his shoulders and sweat trickling down his forehead. He grabbed the bowl by the edge of the fountain and dipped it into the clear water. There had been a few protests about drinking from the fountain at first especially as Sokka had said that 'Toph's foot water' was unfit for human consumption. But Aang had explained that the fountain was irrigated and therefore the water that had been used to heal Toph's feet had long been washed away down the cliff somewhere.

"If the water wasn't flowing the fountain'd get all scummy like a chakra pool"

He said. Even though they didn't grasp the simile everyone got the general jist of what he was saying. So the Fountain had become a communal watering hole with everyone coming and going throughout the day dipping clay bowls in and out of the water taking a drink and going on their merry way.

Zuko was just about to put the bowl he had used down once again on the rim of the fountain when another bowl was bought down in its place. A bowl filled with steaming rice congee and attached to a brown hand. Zuko looked up to meet Katara's gaze.

"I'm fasting…."

He began but the waterbender cut him off by rolling her eyes.

"What? I am! It's the ascension of Agni! The Fire Spirit…"

"I know how the Fire Nation feels about Spirits!"

Katara said bitterly remembering a white fish with a black spot on it's head flailing in the cruel hands of admiral Zhao.

"You're not fasting. You think you're being a big man going hungry so everyone else can eat? Well you're not being big you're being ridiculous and we don't you're your pity"

She yelled all but throwing the bowl of congee onto the exiled prince at the last moment her brain reminded her that food was short and she couldn't go around throwing it at people whenever it took her fancy.

"Oh I think I'm being big? What about you huh? "

At this point Zuko broke off into a high girlish voice that almost matched Katara's.

"Oh no I'm not eating this week I'm on a diet!"

" What? I am on a diet it's important to keep healthy you know"

"You passed healthy about a week ago. I mean look at you, your leggings don't even fit anymore!"

"What makes you think you're in any position to be noticing things about my leggings? And what about you? I can see every notch in your spin, and all your ribs!"

"What makes you think you're in any position to be noticing things about my body?"

Zuko said the slight mocking tone in his voice infuriating Katara.

"Oh well excuse me Mr. I'll-just-take-my-shirt-off-and-walk-around-for-a-while-like-it's-no-big-deal"

She rolled her eyes.

"This may come as a shock to you but up here men can take their shirts off without the fear of being frozen. And for your information I was training earlier, you know that thing you don't have the energy to do anymore because you insist on being a martyr!"

Katara slapped him.

Or at least she would have if she her legs hadn't given away beneath her halfway through the motion causing her to slump forward her hand that had been aiming for Zuko's cheek splaying out in an effort to break her fall and landing in Zuko's chest as he caught her. Katara felt her cheeks redden, not in embarrassment, oh she was far to low on energy to be anything other than cranky. All she felt was anger as she formulated a plan to blame her entire situation on the exiled prince. It was quite simple really, if her hadn't swung into their lives in the air temple, there would have been more rice, at least enough for her to have a meal at least once a day and then not only would the current argument have been postponed but she wouldn't have had a sudden dizzy spell bought on by a lack of nutrient. It was all Zuko's fault. Stupid Zuko.

Zuko. Who was currently easing her onto the rim of the fountain and pushing her head into her lap.

"Sit like that until your head stops swimming"

He said. How did he know it was swimming? It was at that moment that everyone else in the temple decided to enter out onto the balcony their pleasant chattering stopping at the sight of Katara sitting on the fountain rim bent over her lap and Zuko sitting next to her one hand on her back.

"Uh what's going on?"

Sokka asked.

"Katara stood up too fast"

Zuko said standing up.

"Should be fine now"

He moved away. Katara eased herself up and amazingly she did feel all right, the feeling of vertigo that had overcome her had suddenly dispersed. The feeling of anger however hadn't she grabbed the bowl of congee.

"Hey! You forgot your lunch!"

She cried angrily there was no way he was leaving without eating.

"Fasting"

Zuko called over his shoulder in an infuriating tone that made Katara once again want to throw the bowl at his head.

"You know this holy day seems to go on forever"

Sokka commented.

"Maybe it's a week long thing, you know to emulate Agni's suffering or something, the monks used to do stuff like that all the time. Course they all went a little loopy after a week or so"

Aang said

"Must be"

"How long 'till he goes loopy then?

Teo asked.

"Give or take a few days"

Aang shrugged. Katara wanted to scream.

STORY NOTES

Wiggly ones: it is a general rule in my family that one must never complain about bugs in their food as this will always result in my father explaining how they're simply extra protein, don't worry we're not expected to eat them, it's just a joke

Inside out: Maggots actually do eat live flesh as well as dead. Why do you think lambs have their tails docked, so droppings won't get caught in them atracting flies to lay their eggs there, when they hatch the maggots will eat the lamb inside out. This actually happened to my sisters rabbit, it was tragic.

Spitting: In rural china it was believed that spitting warded off evil spirits, small ones, you couldn't spit at Koh and expect him to leave you alone.

Rice: White Rice today is enginered to have the nutriants that is removed from it in the shucking process added back in but in ancieint times this would not have been possible making white rice an incomplete food source.

Holy days: Many festivals throughtout the world especially religious ones include fasting.

Dizzy: If you stand up to fast your vision will usually fade out for few vertigo filled momnents to over come this siit down with your head in your lap for at least a mainute, it will also help prevent to headache you'll invertably get, or at least thats what works for me.

Anyway tell me what you thought I accept critisim just please be constructive and polite.

I apologiuse for my poor spelling and punctuation


	2. Chapter 2

Tough

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender

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There was something about Katara that just got under Zuko's skin. She was single-handedly the most infuriating person he had ever met, and the list of infuriating people he had met was hardly a short one. Zhao, Azula and even his uncle all had notable mentions on it.

The problem was as Zuko saw it that he and Katara were so alike in so many aspects that they couldn't understand how the other was so characteristically different from themselves. Then there was the fact that she was a stubborn pig headed girl who insisted on being a martyr.

The whole thing made him want to tear his hair out in frustration. He was trying to help! What was wrong with her that she couldn't accept it?

He likened the situation to the Turtle ducks in the palace. Hurricanes were common in the Fire Nation they happened for a few months every year to verifying degrees. Zuko could always remember the rush his world would be engulfed in as the season neared. Everything was to be inside or secured before the rains started and the storm really got underway. But one year a mother turtle duck refused to leave her nest. His mother couldn't stand the thought of the poor thing being out in the storm not when all the other animals were holed up in the stables at the far end of the palaces complex. She sent several slaves out in the rains to retrieve the bird and her nest. But The Turtle duck refused to budge and snapped at anyone who tired to get close to her. After the storm, which had lasted several days, most of which the royal family had spent in the bunker in the volcano Ursa went to check on the turtle duck.

It was dead its eggs smashed along the stone path that led to the garden of evening tranquility. His mother had shook her head sadly before ordering a servant to clean it up, Azula had protested saying she wanted to show it to Mai and Ty-lee, especially the eggs which she was particularly fond of. Zuko had nightmares for weeks concerning unhatched turtle ducks their shells soft and their eyes bulging being tossed around in the hurricane while their mothers feathers were stripped away by the force of the winds.

He still did sometimes but now along with the unhatched ducklings a blue mask, a lotus tile, a top knot tied with red leather and a water tribe necklace swirled along with them while roofs blew off the peasant houses of Ba Sing Se dragging a girl with messy plaits and a cup of tea into the sky and a boy with glowing eyes floated in the eye of the storm. The sheer surrealism of it was enough to make him wake up with a start.

Zuko had never been an easy sleeper. He blamed it on his grandmother. Fire Lady Ilah was a marvelous actress who could bring herself to deaths door in a matter of moments if she thought her family weren't paying her enough attention. Zuko had lost track of the number of times he had been roused from his slumber and bought to his grandmother's bedside for what was surely to be his last moments with her.

So that night after a royal artifact meant to be worn by the crown prince and a letter tied with a crimson ribbon had been added to the collection of objects swirling through his dreams Zuko pulled on his over robes and boots, made his bed dutifully and left his room.

The western Air Temple perhaps wasn't the best of locations to recover from a surreal dream, the entire place was abstract and tospy truevy and the moon lying low in the sky a deep reddish colour, made Zuko feel as though he hadn't woken at all.

Rubbing his eyes and scuffing his feet along the stone floors Zuko made his way to the fountain feeling suddenly parched. But the fountain wasn't empty. Sitting on it's rim her face in her lap as it had been earlier that day, or was it yesterday already, was Katara. And she was crying

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STORY NOTES

Cyclone: Cyclones or hurricaines as they are known as in the northern hemisphere are tropical storms that start like tornado's when warm air meats cold but unlike tornados hurricaines require water. They are most prevelant in tropical or sub tropical areas. The Fire Nations position on the globe and from what we have seen of it's flora and fuana the Fire Nation seems to be a tropical country and being islands they would most likely have a hurricaine season.

Broody: brooding is a term used to describe when a hen refuses to leave her nest and eggs and will peck at anyone who tires to move her. I have heard no record of ducks doing this but hey stranger things have happened.

Guessing: Beyond what has been shown of Zuko's past in the show I have no idea what it was like and anything I state about Fire Lady Ilah is purely speculation.

Objects: The objects swirling throughtout Zuko's dream are objects from the show, if you can tell me what they are specifiaclly and what episode they feature in I will, I dunno... be happy?

Anyway thats all for now enjoy!

Aslo I apolgiuse for my poor spelling and punctuation, svearl people have bought it up, it's something I've always struggled with and I am currently looking for a beta reader if you are interested please contact me.

I accept critisim just please be constructive and polite.


	3. Chapter 3

Tough

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender._

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Katara was never selfish. Even in her grief she wasn't selfish, she didn't cry for herself. She cried for everyone else. She cried for Aang, the little boy who was desperately trying to live up to the expectations fate had saddled him with, she cried for Sokka, her brother, he tried so hard to be the stable one, the one she didn't have to worry about but it only made her worry more. She knew him and he knew her and they both knew they relied on each other to stick a grin up on their faces and carry on. She cried for Toph, she tried so hard to be strong and independent but Katara knew better.

And now three more people had been added to her list, The Duke, she cried for

his lack of anything that could classify as a normal family and his belief that somehow this was alright, Teo received his share of tears over his anxiety. He knew what his father could be forced to do under Fire nation orders and it scared him to the point where he often had episodes of panic. And as for Haru, Katara cried for his whole family.

She was never allowed to feel sorry for herself. And even as she sat on the rim of the fountain her stomach aching from it's lack of contents Katara didn't cry for herself, she cried because she knew soon her stomach wouldn't be the only empty one.

Hermit bugs had gotten into the rice.

There had only been enough for at least three more meals and it was stale but it was food, the only food they had and now it was sitting in the bellies of some very happy hermit bugs and Katara was left wondering what it was she could possibly do to fix things.

That was what Katara did she fixed things. That was what the others relied on her for. She was the one who made everything all right. But there was no way she could make this right, what was she supposed to do, bend food out of thin air?

Somewhere along wondering how many hermit bugs it would take to fill Sokka up Katara was overcome with the hopelessness of her situation and burst down into tears.

She cried until her chest ached and her eyes stung, until she started hiccupping and felt like she wanted to be sick. She cried until she heard the definite sound of someone walking towards her.

It was the last person she wanted to see, especially in her current over emotional state. Her face twisted into a scowl while his remained nondescript and unreadable. It was that annoying half expression, she had seen him wear on so many occasions, the one that might have been neutral had it not been on _his_ face. Zuko was not in any way neutral.

He didn't say anything he simply strode into the room barely casting a glance in her direction and plucked a bowl from the rim of the fountain and dipped it into the water and began to drink while Katara couldn't hold back a snuffle.

"We're all going to be fasting tomorrow"

She said. Zuko turned to her.

"And the day after that, and the day after that. We're going to be the holiest people on the planet. Maybe it'll do us some good in the long run"

A humorless laugh bubbled out of her throat and Zuko knew the rice was gone. He sunk down next to her Katara made no attempt to move away.

Neither was quite sure what to do with the situation or the other until Katara spoke.

"You should have taken that congee"

Her voice was a strange mix of conflicting emotions that Zuko couldn't quite unravel to decipher in what way she meant the comment.

"You needed it more than me"

Was all he said.

"Why do you care? You just swing down here after chasing us across the world and all of a sudden you're one of us. You're not! You don't get to care about me or the others, this is my family and if anyone is going to be suffering for them it's going to be me"

Katara cried angrily swiping the tears away from her face

"I am a part of this family! Everyone here accepts me except you! I know I did some bad things but I'm trying to make up for it, I changed"

"You changed? People like you can't change any more than the scorpion wasp could stop stinging the cat toad that carried it across the river"

Katara huffed Zuko blinked as he recognized a rather butchered version of one of his uncles favorite proverbs and then he blinked in slow realization a grin spreading across his face.

"That's it!"

He cried triumphantly, Katara frowned

"What's it?"

"Cat toads! There are cat toads in the forest on the other side of the canyon!"

"And?"

"They're edible!"

"How would you know that?"

Katara asked her voice suggesting that maybe she really didn't want to know.

"I was a refugee in the Earth Kingdom, it was a popular rural dish, people used to sit on the roadside selling five cat toads for a copper piece. They're greasy and the bones can be tough but they're edible"

Zuko explained as Katara realized that eating a giant bug made her unable to comment on how weird eating cat toads was.

"But what about Aang? We can't ask him to eat meat it's against his culture"

She said looking at her hands in her lap.

"Then we won't tell him"

"Zuko! We can't do that!"

"What else can we do?"

"Well there must be some edible vegetation in the forest, what about nuts? We lived of nuts for a week after we left Omashu"

Katara explained. Zuko looked thoughtful.

"I'm sure we could find something," He said

The previous hostility between the pair eased into a fragile truce as they discussed their future meal prospects. Both agreed that it perhaps would be best not to tell the others what type of meat they were eating and that they should hunt the cat toads after dark. That's when they were most active Zuko said. They debated over how many cat toads they would need Zuko said two each per meal, one for the younger members of the group and three for the ever-hungry Sokka. Katara insisted upon two each no matter what it wasn't like the Cat Toads wouldn't run out. Catching was another point of disagreement. Zuko said moonlighting them with lanterns would be best, Katara thought simply catching them in nets would be enough. But together they found a compromise and each went their separate ways to bed agreeing that tomorrow night they would go hunting.

_Katara dreamed that night. She wore yellow robes and waited in a cavern lit with green crystals. Salt clutched in between her palms. He was coming soon with the eggs and together they would make snacks that they could burry within their tunnels, thousand year eggs, it was going to be another of their great secrets. A wall slid open and he appeared in the dim green light._

"_Shu!"_

"_Oma"_

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_STORY NOTES_

_Hermit bugs: These cute little things live in the Northern Airtemple. Teo said they were direct descendants of the ones that had exsisted in Aangs time so they probably lived at all the Air temples._

_The scorpion and the frog: This is an ancient eastern tale meant to illustrate the nature of people. the story goes that one day a scorpion wished to cross a river but couldn't swim. Then he saw a frog sitting on the river bank and asked him to give him passage across the river. The frog refused insiting that the scorpion would sting him. "Why would I do such a thing? Surely it would be foolish of me to sting you as we both would drown" The scorpion explained and the frog agreed it would be foolish so let the scorpion on his back. Halfway across the river the scorpion stung the frog and both drowned. Many would argue that the scorpion was at fault in this tale but in fact the frog is. He should have known that stinging was in the scrpions nature and not trusted him. _

_Frogs: These little amphipians aren't only eaten in france they are also popular in rural china._

_Cat toads: These creatures were first witnessed in The Western Airtemple roleplaying as the 'gaang' in Zuko's practise speaches. They didn't answer him._

_Thousand year eggs: A delicasey in china. they are preserved first in a mixture of salt and lime water, I will explain more about them as the story progresses._

_Monnlighting: A popular method of hunting at night. The animals when the light is shone upon them become confused and stand completely still._

_Anyway thats all for now. I accept critism just please be polite and constructive_


	4. Chapter 4

Tough four

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender_

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Katara handed out bowls of water at breakfast the next morning. Of course food had been so strained over the past week that no one thought anything was unusual about the clear liquid in their bowls until they drank it.

"Katara this is water!"

Sokka cried after a large gulp of what he had at least been expecting to be a weak congee.

"Right, we're fasting today"

Katara said

"What for?"

Aang asked.

"Yeah I thought it was Sparky's holy week not ours"

"Well uh, fasting is good for… spiritual well-being and if we're going to attack the Fire Nation we should probably try to understand their culture better!"

Katara exclaimed and that was the end of that.

No one did much that day. The Duke complained of hunger and went to curl up on his bed and sulk. Toph and Aang found a suitable sunbathing spot in the fold of one of the upturned roofs and spent the day laid out there half covered in sun half covered in shade. Sokka had taken off with Haru to the library he had recently discovered. Airbender script was more cursive than what Sokka was used too and some of the characters used had obviously been refined in the century since they had last been used and some of them just plain didn't make sense. But Sokka struggled through them. Airbender books were so different from scrolls. They consisted of loose leaves of paper with the script running across them and held in between two ornately carved pieces of wood. Each was individually wrapped in coloured silk with a slip of paper at the end giving the title and author. Most of them were about how to live in harmony with nature but Sokka kept at it convinced that sooner or later he would come across something of use. Teo tinkered; keeping his hands busy was a good way of distracting himself from his anxiety. Katara tidied everything she could get her hands on she honestly couldn't think of a better thing to do and no one was quite sure where Zuko was.

Around midday Katara looked for him. He was in his room making a basket out of what Katara immediately recognized as his bed mat. Beds at the temple were little more really than alcoves carved out of the wall with woven reed mats on them for a mattress they were dyed attractively but they didn't do anything for the back.

"Sorry guys, but the monks wanted to live simple lives without worldly comforts, that includes soft mattresses," Aang had explained on their fist night in the temple.

"What are you doing?"

Katara asked striding into the room Zuko gave her a brief look of acknowledgment before returning to his work.

"Making a basket" He said

"I can see that, why?"

"For our hunt tonight, don't tell me you've forgotten"

He looked up again to give her the faintest hint of a teasing smile. Katara gave a slight 'hmph' before turning her attention to the basket. She frowned.

"You want to catch cat toads in that?"

She almost laughed.

"What's wrong with it?" Zuko asked defensively. He was proud of his basket, it had taken him most of the morning to even figure out how to start it and he thought he had made good progress.

"Look at how weak the weave is, you wouldn't be able to hold a hermit bug in there!"

Katara said

"And I suppose you could do better?"

It was a challenge. Katara turned to the side her nose in the air.

"_Of course _I can do better give it here"

She reached out to take the basket Zuko offered it to her; perhaps weaving was better left to a girl. Katara sat down on the stone floor her legs crossed and held the basket neatly in her lap. She took a hold of two pieces of reed and began to expertly slide them in between others curling them over each other. Zuko watched as she got a rhythm going her hands going over the same motions never missing a beat. It was entrancing.

"I've been meaning to ask, do we have any oil?" He asked eventually. Katara didn't look up from her work as she answered.

"No"

"Guess I'll have to make some"

And with that he left the room and Katara to her weaving.

Zuko's bed mat hadn't been enough to make a basket tall enough to stop any ambitious Cat Toads from trying to escape so just before she finished weaving his completely she left to get her own. She returned to the room to find Zuko sitting over a pile of small seeds spread out across what she recognized as Sokka's shield and he was heating it.

"You don't think your brother will mind me borrowing this do you?" He asked

"What are you borrowing it for?"

"I'm making oil"

"Let me guess you picked that up in some earth kingdom backwater town too"

Katara said, personally she found the idea of Zuko traveling around the earth kingdom as a peasant just a little hard to believe, although there had been that one time in that shantytown where Azula had shot his Uncle with lightning.

"No I picked this up in Ba Sing Se, on the street corner where I worked there was a man who made oil. Uncle used to send me out every morning for a jar of it"

Zuko explained shifting the shield slightly so that the seeds moved around. He used one of the water bowls from the fountain to press down on them.

"Don't tell me you've never seen someone make oil like before," Zuko said noticing how closely Katara was watching him as he shifted the seeds around again.

" No not really in the Southern Water Tribe we cooked with animal fat. What seeds are you using?"

"Sesame, they're all over the place in the Fire Nation" As he bought the bowl down again grinding it to crush the seeds a thin amount of golden brown run off appeared. Zuko tipped the shield slightly causing the oil to drip into the clay jar he had waiting. He tossed the burnt seed aside and drew out more from the sack next to him.

"How did you eat, in Ba Sing Se, if you didn't get oil?"

He asked in an attempt to shake off the feeling of awkwardness hanging densely in the air. Katara looked up from her weaving.

"Hmm?.. oh we had food delivered to our house in the upper ring, local delicacies that sort of thing. I didn't really like it, they put sauce on everything"

"Be glad in the upper ring sauce was only used for flavor. In the lower ring it was used to disguise rotten meat"

"I never really spent time in the lower ring, except for when I was putting up posters for Appa I spent a lot of time in the middle ring though. There was a beautiful fountain in the restaurant district. There were lanterns and they used too…"

"Light them at night"

Zuko finished tonelessly

"Yes, how did you know?"

"A girl showed me"

His golden eyes darkened as he cast a glance downward. Katara felt her gaze soften.

"Was she nice?"

She asked tentatively.

"Yes, I only met her once but she was nice"

Zuko obviously wasn't liking his trip down five miles of memory lane and Katara wasn't entirety sure she liked thinking of him on human terms, wasn't this the same trick he had pulled in the catacombs. The only reason she was giving him even the slightest bit of trust, she reminded herself, was because them rest of the group depended upon them working together to catch Cat Toads. They worked in silence from then on.

Night came all to soon. Katara had come to the conclusion that food was the staple that kept the group together as without meals there was no reason for everyone to gather around the fire pit on the balcony and stay up past sundown. One by one everyone got bored of the dark and drifted off to their rooms to sleep. She made her nightly rounds checking in on everyone. Tucking in The Duke, taking Toph's headband out of her hair, rolling Sokka onto his side to stop him snoring all the things she usually did before going to bed. Only this time instead of heading off to her room after she had made double sure that Aangs blankets weren't wrapped to tightly around him limbs (The boy was going to cocoon himself one of these days) she grabbed her basket slung it over her shoulder and headed out to the balcony where Zuko was waiting with a lantern and a rope. He gave her a slight nod as she arrived.

"You ready?"

"Lets do this."

He offered her the rope.

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_STORY NOTES_

_Libraries: In ancient times especially in europe monasteries were to only place that had librabries as all books were written in latin only monks and the extermely rich could read them. Monasteirs across the world have long been held as places of learning and the air temples being populated by monks would have probably been no different. It seems however that literacy and knowledge is far more spread across the Avatar world more so than our own at a similar time frame in history. _

_Books:I modelled the books in the air temple library after tibetan books, taking it's roots from snadskirt traditional tibetan is unlike most central asian languages as it does not use characters such as the more commonly used, at least today, chinese._

_History: It is said that today if we were to go back in time we would have a hard time figuring out what our anecstors were saying as colquial language and slang is always changing. In fact you would need a translator to understand the cantuberry tales in the original english because language both spoken and written has changed so much since then. Strictly speaking htough because it is a pictorial language modern chinese writting has remained virtually unchanged for hundreds of years. _

_Bedding: I based what I have said here on air temple bedding from what I saw of Aang's former room in ' The storm' and from waht I read about current day indian bhuddist temples. Rewatching 'The western airtemple' however I realised Zuko's bed was entirely different, sorry roll with me here. _

_Oil: Heating seeds or other oil producing plants is a very basic way of making a crude cooking oil. For better oil there are a lot of refining procedures to undertake. _

_Sesame: Sesame is a popular type of asian cooking. I though it appropriate as__ sesame grows in climates like the Fire Nations and is used in certain rites to Agni (The indian god of Fire predating hinduism) _

_Spices: An unclarrified rumor about Curry says that the indian people used strong spices to hide the taste of rotten meat, certainly europeans did. This was why the spice trade was so huge. _

_Okay tell me what you thought please excuse any spelling and punctuation errors you may find (I do believe it or not use a spellcheck, but they can't pick up on everything)_

_I accept critisim just please be constructive and polite._

_Thank you for reading I hoped you enjoyed it._


	5. Chapter 5

Tough five

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender_

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It was Zuko in the end that went first. He tied the lantern to his sash before grasping the rope firmly and pulling himself up onto it. He looked at Katara his face pulled into a frown illumined by the obscured light of the lantern at his waist.

"Are you sure you have the strength to do this? It's a long way up and there's no place to rest. Your arms are going to get tired"

He said. Katara scowled. She was a waterbending master not some fragile little Fire Nation palace doll who could barely lift a parasol.

"Just get moving" She grit her teeth. Zuko started to move up the rope. Katara followed him. He had been right though, damn him, after what felt like fifteen minutes of using her arms to support the majority of her body weight they felt like they were going to fall off. Katara risked a look downwards. It was pitch black of course but still it wasn't hard to imagine what sort of death was waiting down in that darkness if she should fall. Her arms all of a sudden felt considerably weaker.

"Everything okay?"

Katara looked up to see Zuko peering down at her.

"Why wouldn't it be?" She shot back.

"You looked down didn't you?" Katara could no longer see his face but there was a hint of laughter in Zuko's voice.

"No"

"It's a long way down you know, Toph told me, it's amazing how she does that"

"Did that, you burned her feet remember?"

Katara snarled they both stayed silent for a while.

By the time they had climbed halfway up the cliff Katara's arms were screaming in pain. Every single movement seemed to elicit a new type of strain to her muscles. The thought of having to do this again, with cat toads was not something she particularly wanted to think about. She didn't want to think about anything really, not that she was the pain was doing a pretty good job of distracting her.

"How long have we been climbing?"

She asked Zuko looked down.

"Are you getting tired?"

"That's not what I asked!"

"Well what makes you think I have any idea of the time, I'm a firebender I tell time by the sun, can't you tell it by the moon?"

"In case you hadn't noticed there is no moon tonight, hence why we're climbing up this la forsaken cliff in pitch black"

"I've got a lantern"

Zuko said pathetically Katara glared at him.

"Just tell me how close we are to the top"

She sighed.

"I can't really tell but I'd say not far, I've made this climb before"

Zuko explained with a grimace as he remembered his first trip down this rope to the Western Air Temple, he didn't think the rope burn would ever heal. He would have gone to Katara for a healing if he wasn't completely certain she would water whip him across the head if he tried to get to close to her. Once again the climb resumed in silence.

They didn't speak again until By the dim light of the lantern at his waist Zuko saw the black outline that made up the cliff edge and the ultramarine sky that continues on above it.

"I can see the top, not long now"

He called back. Katara had obviously struggled with the climb; she hadn't been eating much over the past week and had started to lose her muscle tone. Her body hadn't started to show much in the way of malnutrition yet, fortunately. Zuko had spent a long two days on an earth kingdom ferry filled with refugees their skeletal arms barely able to hold even thinner children with sores all over their bodies their eyes staring lifelessly at the world, in some cases literally. At least four babies and two children had died on the ferry to Ba Sing Se. He tried to block it out but he could still clearly remember the anguished cries of a woman as her dead child was ripped from her by the guards and thrown into the water. He had never thought of the war in any context beyond himself up until that point. Still to her credit Katara hadn't complained throughout the entire trip Zuko had been certain she was going to start doing so at about the halfway point. Most girls he knew would have, Mai would have started complaining before she even started climbing, Azula wouldn't, at all. In fact she wouldn't even climb she would probably send Ty-lee and she wouldn't have a problem. The girl had wicked upper body strength.

Despite having upper body strength that could almost rival Ty-lee's (She spent half her life on her hands that had to do something for her arms) Zuko's arms fell to his side shaking slightly after he had heaved himself across the cliff face and onto mercifully solid ground. For a few seconds he laid there his arms feeling like Tofu staring up at the starry sky getting his breath back. He was distracted as Katara flopped down next to him mere inches from the cliff.

"My arms feel like they're on fire"

She groaned. Zuko turned his head slightly to look at her.

"Here" Her heated his hand and pressed it to her upper arm. Katara was going to complain at first, what did he think adding heat to her already burning arms was going to do? But then she realized it felt nice and it actually _did_ help the aches in her arm. They lay there together sprawled out next to a cliff looking at the sky for what felt like an eternity getting their breath back.

Katara felt drowsy. She was tired and sore and the heat on her arms was just so comforting, all she wanted to do was fall asleep in that warmth and not wake up until her head felt like it was no longer filled with sawdust. But then the heat went away. Katara shivered a bit before realizing that she was lying on the dusty ground about six inches away from a cliff edge.

"You got a little out of it there"

Zuko said next to her as he wearily stood up. Katara shook her head to clear it slightly embarrassed that she had been almost napping on their little adventure. And as the sawdust from her head lifted she remembered the heat on her arms and with crystal clarity placed things together again, Zuko, he had been the heat. Oh great she would never live this down. Zuko offered a hand down to her Katara took it and he pulled her to her feet.

"Come on we'd better get moving"

It wasn't quiet. Nights in the Fire Nation were never quiet. Insects let out frenzied calls from the undergrowth in the hopes of attracting a companion. Golden eyes accompanied with a shrill squeaking noise followed Zuko and Katara as they made their way through the forest. Katara found it slightly unnerving. To the point where she unconsciously grabbed Zuko's arm just to make sure he wasn't getting too far ahead of her.

"They're just Mouse bats, nothing to be worried about, they eat fruit"

He said Katara frowned.

" I wasn't worried about them. I just wanted to make sure I knew where you were"

She insisted. Zuko chuckled.

"I've got a lantern how could you lose me?"

"Oh a light in a jungle that's great you obviously haven't heard stories about phantom lights and how they lead people off course in the night"

"Spirit lights are what they're known by here. And they're just stories unless of course you believe there's a spirit here waiting to lead us to our doom"

Katara wanted to slap the teasing smirk she was certain the Fire Prince was wearing off his face all she did instead was say.

"I've had more experience in the way of spirits than you"

"I'll bet"

Eventually another cry joined the sound of the insects. At first Katara thought it was rain. Very loud rain without a hint of water. But then Zuko turned to her.

"Cat toads, we're getting close to the swamp"

He said. It was at least another hundred meters though before Zuko put his foot down on what he was certain was going to be another spot of dry land and it sunk down with a squelching noise followed by a foul muddy smell. It wasn't so much of a swamp as it was an abandoned Rice paddy. There were plenty of them littering the area around the western Air temple. Zuko had studied the Air Nomads in school and unlike his family history he had paid attention to the history of the fallen nation. Could anyone blame him, he was a boy, a boy who had been taught that the Air Nomads were evil savages. He had spent countless hours day dreaming about epic battles in which he triumphed over the cunning airbenders and even Azula had to admit he was great, either that or she died. He drew a picture of his day dreams once. A battle scene full of angry splots of ink representing blood and dying figures that resembled some form of sticks or mushrooms more than soldiers. His mother had practically burst into tears when he showed it too her complete with a running commentary of what was happening.

"And there's me see I'm winning oh and Azula'a over here but she's dead That Air Bender there stabbed her!"

But she had praised him for it, like a good Fire Nation mother, her voice hollow and her eyes deep pools of sorrow. Zuko wasn't stupid. Next time he drew Turtle ducks and left the battles to Azula.

But aside from their military structure Zuko had also learnt about the decidedly more boring subject of Air Nomad agriculture. The Eastern, Southern and Northern Air temples were at altitudes' where Rice couldn't grow, so their main product was barley. But rice was grown at the western Air temple in tiered Rice paddies that hadn't been tended for a century and were now over run with Cat Toads, this wasn't going to be as hard as Zuko had originally thought.

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_STORY NOTES_

_Spirit lights: There are stories in every culture although mostly english and european of 'fairy lights' a natural occerence in swampy and marshy areas many people believed the lights to be the lanterns of fairies trying to lead them off course to their doom._

_Quiet: My mother is from a farm in Africa and as such was used to a lot of insets making a lot of noise at night, the she married my father and came to New Zeland where the only natural sound of the night is our cat getting beaten up by the tom next door. However recently my family went to the outback in Austarlia, you can't hear yourself think with all the noise at night! _

_Frog Song: Another event that happened on my trip to austalia my family went to an old shearing and wool factory type place and halfway through our tour there suddenly came an up roar of what sounded like very loud rain from under the floorboards it was so loud I couldn't hear what my brother who was staning right next to me was yelling. Turns out it was frogs predicting the shower that we got caught up in on our way back to the motel._

_Sadistic: To anyone reading the scene in which Zuko draws a battle scene, no I am not saying Zuko is in anyway sadistic. Anyone with a little boy or any experiece of little boys will know litle boys love drawing gory battles, it's what they do. I'm a teacher aide and I get given a lot of pictures of stick figures in khaki flying fighter planes. It doesn't mean anything really, maybe a little infusian and child like inturpetaion on what is shown in the media, I mean in New Zealand we get full coverage of the Iraq war and we're only peacekeeping over there and getting our national dance mocked by the first lady but hey. _

_Okay thats all for now sorry about the time it took to get this up I've been having computer problems which resulted in an entirely new computer but I hope you enjoy this. _

_So tell me what you thought and please excuse any spelling or punctuation errors you come across. I accept critism just please be constructive and polite._


	6. Chapter 6

Tough six

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the last Airbender_

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"Uh you might want to stay there with the basket"

Zuko said turning to Katara as he began to remove his boots, no way was he wading through a centuries worth of pond scum in his Hippo Cow leather boots. As an extra measure to prevent any of the fouls smelling scum getting into his clothes, Katara would just love that, he rolled up his pants to above the knee.

"Won't it be faster if I help?"

Katara asked setting down the basket.

"Well um you do know we're going to have to kill these things right?"

"Of course we're not going to eat them alive are we?"

Katara rolled her eyes.

"No but it's just well don't girls get all sensitive about stuff like this?"

Zuko asked placing the lantern on the basket in its dim light Katara frowned. What did he take her for?

"After the men of my tribe left to fight in the war my brother and me were the only ones left to hunt, I made my first kill at age nine. A Dolphin Seal, I didn't kill it outright and it cried, like a human baby, I had to finish the job and eat it"

She said removing her own boots and rolling up her leggings. Zuko didn't quite know what to say. What had he been doing at age nine? , Playing with turtle ducks and day dreaming through his lessons. He hadn't made his first kill until he and his uncle were declared enemies of the Fire Nation and even then it was a pathetic fish that wouldn't feed a sparrow hare. He cleared his throat.

"Well we'd best get on with it, Cat Toads aren't very fast but they are hard to get a grip on, also they tend to uh relax a few muscles when they're startled. We won't be able to see them in this light so we'll have to feel for them on whatever's covering the pond or just below the surface. When you get one break its neck. "

The pair got started.

The water, which was really more slime and weeds than water was understandably thick and every few wading steps she took Katara would feel her ankles brush against something or become entangled in something else. It felt gross smelt gross and was all around generally gross but it was teeming with Cat Toads her hands clasped around one every few inches or so, their skin slimy and fur sodden. But they were big far bigger than Katara had thought they would have been. She was expecting to spend the entire night coming up with enough Cat Toads to make a single meal but they were large bloated animals it took two hands to hold one.

"We shouldn't take too many"

Zuko said from where he was placing Cat Toads with their hind legs strung together on what had previously been a silk design on his shirt into the basket.

"I've got six how about you?"

There was a 'shloop' sound as Katara stepped out of the murky water to join Zuko on the shore.

"Same that's enough for a meal isn't it?"

"Well yeah but it's not just one meal, we're going to need more if we're going to feed everyone more than one meal a day"

Katara frowned handing the Cat Toads she had caught to Zuko he went about stringing them together with what had once been a part of the golden flame symbol on his winter jacket (He had come to the western Air Temple prepared for any outcome)

"Twelve that could last us a day or two if we ration it tightly and cook sparingly, nothing fancy maybe a soup"

Katara though aloud

"Course we'd need something else to put in a soup"

She sat down on the bank feeling like she was back at square one. She stretched her legs out and they landed on instead of dry ground like she had been expecting on the layer of slime that drifted atop the abandoned paddy. Cringing Katara drew her feet back.

"What is that stuff anyway?"

She asked

"What stuff?"

Zuko asked he was pulling his boots back on.

"Whatever's floating on top of the water"

Katara clarified sweeping the foul smelling water away from her legs with a single motion.

"It's just algae, the Cat toads eat it when they're kittenpoles"

Zuko explained. Katara's face lit up.

"We can eat algae!"

She said

"What?"

"It's edible, we used to eat it all the time in The Southern Water tribe aside from sea prunes it's the only vegetable available. You dry it out"

Katara began pulling clumps of the algae from the water and stuffing it into the skirt of her dress which she had rolled up like an apron.

"You won't be able to climb if you have to hold your skirt like that"

Zuko said.

"Well what do your propose then? We need something other than Cat toads and Aang can't eat meat anyway we need it"

Katara demanded adding another handful of the slimy green substance to her make shift basket. Zuko sighed she was right, Aang wouldn't go against his culture and Cat Toads large as they might be weren't enough for a complete meal. But there was still no way Katara could abseil down a sheer wall if she had to hold the skirt of her dress up to hold the algae and there wasn't enough room in the basket. With a sigh of defeat Zuko undid his sash and took off his shirt.

"What are you doing?"

Katara hissed

"Put the algae here"

The prince held his shirt out Katara nodded in understanding she transferred the algae from her skirt to Zuko's shirt. He folded the corners up around the vegetation and used the sleeves to tie them together. He slung the bundle over his shoulder grimacing as the liquid still clinging to the algae seeped through the thin silk material to drip down his back. He reached for the basket but before he could lift it Katara did.

"I can take that"

He said softly but Katara shook her head.

"I got it"

In silence the pair left the long abandoned rice paddy.

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_STORY NOTES_

_Hunting: It well known that the water tribe is losely based on the Inuit race of the Artic region. But it should be mentioned that the Inuit's historically were not as gender specific as the water tribe is protrayed to be. Men often went on long hunting trips and had to learn how to cook their own meals, mend their own clothes and so on, while women were allowed to hunt out of personal preferance or necessity. Katara was also seen out hunting with Sokka in 'The boy in the Ice-Berg'._

_Cow Hippo's: These large animals were seen in the episode 'The headband' they apparently eat meat despite the fact that it seems more than likely they themselves are bred for human consumption. Although generally humans do not eat carnivores_

_Algae: This aquatic plant actually does grow in Antartica. It is also eaten dried in south east Asia usually seasoned with sesame seeds_


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar The Last Air Bender_

The sound of the insects was even louder on the way back to the cliff and certainly there were a lot more insects, where they had previously kept to the undergrowth and trees before they now swarmed everywhere. It was driving Katara mad. It wasn't as if she had never been an in insect friendly environment before, it was just that she usually had Momo with her to dispose of any insects flying around her head. In his absence Katara took to swiping a hand in front of her feet every few steps

"There aren't this many bugs in the temple, how can you stand it?"

She demanded turning to Zuko who wasn't doing anything to prevent the small flying insects from swarming around his face.

"It's because of the Paddy, they breed here and I'm used to this, I live here"

Katara snorted

"You live in a giant palace with a personal servant to swat away the bugs" She said a small hint of the poison which had been absent all night creeping back into her voice for the briefest of seconds. Zuko gave a humourless smile, true he had lived in a palace with a personal servant to swat bugs.

"In the Earth Kingdom my Uncle," Zuko felt a hitch in his voice as he mentioned his Uncle he forced himself not to think about where his Uncle could be and what had taken place between them before the Day of Black Sun and continued.

"My Uncle and myself spent half the time being eaten alive by Mosquito wasps,we had bites all over our arms and legs."

Katara nodded along

"Us aswell, You should have seen Aang's head! It was covered in bites, he couldn't stop scratching them we had to wrap his hands together at night just so he wouldn't scratch in his sleep, they were really nasty, he got so desperate at one point he tried to bite through the cloth"

Katara laughed. Remembering the groups journey through the Earth Kingdom, Both Aang and Toph had proven to be irresistible to the annoying insects and were constantly sporting red angry bites on just about every area of exposed skin. For some reason however they had avoided both her and Sokka like they had a plague.

"Mine got infected" Zuko said, Katara stopped laughing.

Once again they continued in silence.

Or at least it was silent until a low buzzing whine quite unlike the cries of the other insects became clear. For a while Katara's mind didn't even register it, like the ringing noise you only heard if it was quiet enough and you concentrated on it. Zuko didn't notice it either, but this was his home he had spent his summers on Ember Island palace where the rooms were really little more than poles holding up a roof to keep them cool with only a gauzy net dropping down from the ceiling to cover his bed stopped the ever present and loud insects from biting him. It was like how the men who worked the mines said that after a while they no longer heard the sound of the machinery, although considering just how loud the machinery was they didn't really hear much of anything.

Then the buzzing started getting louder to the point where it was no longer ignorable, and Zuko realised he had very little idea where he and Katara were. There had been a path an albeit very worn and overgrown, so that it was barely recognisable as a path leading to the rice paddies from the temple. He and Katara had followed it to the paddy, but now as he looked around in the dimming light of the lantern, nothing that even resembled a path could be seen. He was certain they were still headed towards the cliff, years at sea had given Zuko a reasonably good scene of direction as far as telling where North and South were, but they were most definitely in an unknown part of the jungle. Still no problem, they could find the cliff edge and walk along it until they found the rope and the way down. Like following a river. He would have still been wandering around in the Earth Kingdom flats if he hadn't figured out that every shanty town he passed through was built next to or within walking distance of a river, he had followed a single trickle of muddy water through several settlements until he discovered something a little more interesting to follow, the tracks of a Fire Nation tank.

Katara was almost certain this wasn't the way they came. For one thing she could swear the path they had taken to the rice paddy hadn't been marred by nearly so many overgrown plants. She cursed silently as her foot caught on yet another tree root, barely managing to catch herself from falling into Zuko who was walking a few steps ahead of her.

"You okay?"

Zuko asked looking over his shoulder. Katara nodded.

"I just tripped over a tree root, are you sure this is the way we came?"

She asked cringing as her foot snagged on another tree root. Zuko put a hand on her arm to steady her before she could stumble forward.

"It's not, but we just need to get to the cliff edge and follow it back to the temple"

"If we can the edge in this light" Katara scoffed.

Ah, Zuko had forgotten about that, note to self walk a little more carefully. Last thing he wanted was to stride off a cliff.

"Just stay close to me and you'll be fine"

Katara couldn't stop herself from laughing.

Even in the darkness there was just so much to take in walking through the Fire Nation jungle, sure she couldn't see much, only what the light of Zuko's lantern allowed but there were other things to experience, for example for at least the least fifteen minutes Katara had been able to smell a sweet flowery scent she hadn't caught a single glance of any flowers but they smelt wonderful, light and gentle without a hint of the usual sharpness that followed the flowers she usually smelt. Katara to be honest had never really had much luck when it came to flowers, She had come from a culture where affection was expressed through the giving of boiled fat, what could you expect? It was symbolic of course, the fat could be used to make lamps or to cook with or to rub on wounds, so giving it meant a desire to see the receiver to be warm, healthy and well fed, preferably with the giver. The first flower she encountered up close had been a small blue thing clinging desperately to the edge of the path she Sokka and Aang had taken up the Southern Air Temple. He had excitedly pointed it out to her.

"Look Katara it's an Air Poppy, I haven't seen one in a hundred years, they normally don't flower this late!"

He had plucked the flower and held it up to her nose. Katara had been in no place to be admiring flora, she was tired from walking, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the world beyond the south pole which was so unlike anything she had ever experienced and to top it all off the altitude the Air Temple was at was making her feel dizzy and slightly nauseous. She had practically choked over the flowers scent breathing in a large amount of pollen and sneezing all over the first Air Poppy Aang had seen in a hundred years. Of course Air Poppies didn't smell anywhere near as heavenly as what she was smelling now. She took in a a deep breath, she loved Fire Nation flowers. Ahead of her Zuko sneezed.

"Damn Night Jasmine" He sniffed

"Night Jasmine?"

"Surely you can smell it. It only flowers at night and it grows just about everywhere"

Zuko's voice was thick and he sniffed again rubbing his forearm against his eyes, Katara frowned

"Are You crying?

"No! It's these Agni Forsaken flowers, they're making my eyes water"

Zuko sniffed. Katara once again couldn't stop herself from laughing.

"You get Hay fever! I can't believe the prince of the Fire Nation suffers from hay fever!"

"I do not, there's just too much pollen in the air"

He sneezed again. Katara nodded in a way that suggested she would have, had she not been carrying a basket of Cat toads, crossed her arms across her chest.

"There's a name for that you know, it's hay fever."

Zuko grit his teeth, he could stand the insults and barbs, really he could, no skin off his back, growing up with Azula had given him a skin thicker than a Komodo Rhino's. He supposed that was one thing he was thankful to his family for, growing up with them had definitely done something for his determination and resilience. But the thing that was bothering him about Katara was that she would almost let her guard down around him but before he could claim any ground in the battle field that stretched between them her defences went up again. The barb was reattached to her tongue and she once again hated him. It was all she had been doing all night and it was getting damned infuriating!

What would Uncle do if presented with a waterbender who spent half her time snapping at him and the other half being almost nice to him, And more importantly why did he always ask what his Uncle would have done had he been in the same situation ? Of course all of Zuko's further musings were interrupted by a low growl erupted from somewhere in the undergrowth.

_STORY NOTES_

_Insect bites: Most people are familier with insect bites especially mosquito ones, they're mostly in western civilisations just plain annyoing put in some regions of Africa and Asia Mosquito bites can lead to disease and infection. Also mosquito's breed in water._

_Night Jasmine: This particular type of jasmine flowers only at night like most jasmine it is considered to be , in some regions at least, weed_

_Altidude sickness: A common and treatable, at least by today's medical standards, infliction that occurs in the body when it is in area's of higer altidude. Baiscally if you aren't used to being in high area's your body with begin to suffer a lack of oxygen due to the thinner air. Symptoms include headaches nausea and in exterem cases the lungs will fill will water and the victim will drown at several thousand metres above sea level. People who live in higher altidudes are used to the air and therefore don't suffer from altidude sickness. _


	8. Chapter 8

Tough

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender_

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Katara whipped her gaze around.

"What was that?" Her voice was low barely above a whisper as she reached for her water skin silently cursing the basket of Cat Toads for restricting her movements. The Jungle suddenly seemed to grow smaller around them, vast expanses of flowers and trees Katara was certain had existed before closed up leaving her and Zuko alone with whatever had growled.

'You're being ridiculous Katara, you're a master Waterbender, with plenty of water. You've faced down plenty of dangerous animals before, whatever this is, you can take it. Okay stop it! Focus!'

She forced herself to take a deep breath and with a water whip at the ready Katara slowly began to turn keeping a close eye on the jungle that surrounded them looking for any sign of movement and keeping her ears trained for any sounds. Zuko had let the sack, or rather his shirt, of algae go and had produced his duel swords from where they had been sheathed at his hips next to the lantern. He held them across each other. Silently he cursed his scar for the sight impairment it gave his sight. During the day he could make up for the range of vision his right eye lost by relying on his left, but it was a lot harder when it was dark and even his left eye couldn't see as well. Night blindness, that what his uncle had called it.

They stood together back to back their weapons at the ready waiting for whatever was hiding in the jungle to reveal itself. The air was tense and the humidity seemed to have doubled, Zuko could feel his palms sweating around the hilt of his swords he gripped them tighter. For the briefest of seconds the world seemed to stop around them, and then sprung into action all at once. In the flash of an eye a striped lizard cat leapt from the undergrowth and before either Zuko or Katara could even register what was happening the animal struck out and disappeared once again into the jungle. Zuko's left sword fell to the ground with a dull thud he followed it with a hiss.

He fell to his knees grunting as he experimentally placed a hand to the bite on his side. Pain shot out from the wound spreading across his torso. Blood coated his hands and flowed steadily out of the puncture marks warm and sticky. Gritting his teeth, Zuko struggled to get to his feet. Pain exploded across his body and he began to sink back down a hand steadied him before he hit the ground. Katara. Her face was scrunched up with worry her eyes deep pools of concern. Not breaking eye contact she moulded her water whip around her hand and with a slight humming noise the water began to glow.

Looking away Katara focused her gaze on the wound. Whatever had attacked him had bitten him around the waist leaving a large oval ring of holes across his back and front blood poured steadily from each mark. She began to move her hand towards the injury. But with a sharp intake of breath at the movement Zuko caught her wrist.

"No" he grunted

Katara felt her mouth twisting into a scowl

"You're injured, that thing bit you! I need to heal it!"

"Komodo Tiger. We need to get out of here before it comes back"

Zuko winced as he pushed himself away from Katara and struggled to get up pain once again flowed across him, he stumbled back down.

"What makes you so sure it'll come back?"

"It never left."

"What, how can you be sure?"

Katara whipped her gaze around but the jungle was once again still.

"Venom, in the bite. He's waiting for it to take effect. We have to get out of here, and you can't heal me yet, you'll be vulnerable"

"How long until it take effect?"

Katara asked. If Zuko had thought her gaze had been concerned before it definitely was now. Her expression almost mirrored the one she had worn holding Aang's broken body beneath Ba Sing Se.

"Not long, about three quarters of an hour before I'm beyond even that spirit water of yours"

he broke off into a slight chuckle

"We need to go. You can heal me when we're safe"

Katara nodded solemnly. She tore a strip of cloth away from the hem of her tunic and wrapped it around the bite blood slowly began to seep through it in spotty patches.

"Just till I can heal it"

She assured him before placing her arms under his and lifting him from his slumped position on the leafy jungle floor. Zuko helped her efforts as best he could but it didn't do much. Every movement sent another wave of burning pain through him like a thousand needled bursting through his skin all at once he knew it was the result of the venom the pain of a normal bite wouldn't have spread so far from the wound. Along with the pain Zuko could already feel several other affects of the venom, there was a bitter metal taste in his mouth and he was distantly aware his shoulder twitching. Katara still balancing him against her shoulder plucked his sword from the ground she sheathed it at his hip. Before casting a glance at the algae still wrapped up in Zuko's silken shirt, they needed that, but Zuko...She shook her head , no. She could always come back for the algae if need be. So with Zuko braced against her the two began to move off.

Zuko was heavy. Sure he was trying to keep as much of his weight off Katara, she could tell, but it wasn't helping any. His movements were becoming stiff and erratic. His head had started to spasm to the left every minute and she could feel his arm muscles twitching involuntarily along with the spasms. He stumbled alongside her relying on her sturdy pace to set the tone for his own sluggish one.

"The Komodo Tiger's following us"

Zuko muttered glancing over his shoulder before it twitched violently to the left again. Katara followed his gaze and sure enough The Komodo Tiger was following them. It wasn't even bothering to stay hidden in the undergrowth, which Katara knew wasn't a good sign, it knew they were weak.

"The cliff"

Zuko groaned as another spasm surged through him. He practically jumped in Katara's grasp.

"What?"

Katara asked as she repositioned her hold on Zuko's slumped form.

"We need to get to the cliff, He won't be able to follow us there"

"Are you crazy! There's no way you'll be able the climb down a cliff in this state."

Katara cast another worried glance back at the Komodo tiger. It had gained several metres and was letting out a low hissing noise as it's forked tongue flicked in and out of it's mouth.

"Don't have too, there's a cave just below the drop"

Katara turning away from the Komodo Tiger cast a worrying glance at Zuko. Sweat clung to his frame and his breath came out laboured and harsh. She needed to get the venom out of his system soon and they couldn't stop here, not with the Komodo Tiger so close behind them, it was keeping at a safe distance for now but that would change in a hurry if it thought it's prey was weakening but at the same time Zuko couldn't keep going. With every step the venom surged a little further through his veins.

"How far below the drop?"

She asked reassuring her grip on him as Zuko spasmed again.

"Not far, five metres"

He grunted out. Katara nodded that would have to do. She picked up her pace dragging Zuko along with her. He jumped slightly in her grasp every few minutes in a fashion that reminded Katara of the electric shocks she Sokka and Toph had endured for a week aboard the Fire Nation ship. It had taken a week of the three of them suffering painful shocks whenever they went to open a door or steady themselves against the walls before Bato told them to touch the walls every ten paces to get rid of off all the static electricity before it built up into the huge blue bolts they had been previously experiencing.

The jungle began to clear as they came upon the cliff edge. Zuko's vision began to blur and he felt sick as Katara dragged him along the edge to find their rope. She was yelling at him, he could hear her voice but it was far away in his ears almost like he was underwater he mumbled something, he wasn't even sure what. Katara slapped him. Zuko shot up with a spasm and glared at her the fog that had previously clouded his mind seemed to clear long enough for him to see the Water Tribe girl glaring a him.

"Stay with it Jerkbender"

She ordered.

"Feeling Sick..."

Zuko mumbled. Katara nodded sympathetically but didn't slow her pace and Zuko was once again forced to keep up with her. The Komodo Tiger had followed them out of the jungle and had quickened it's stride. Keeping his body low to the ground and his tail flat out behind him. Stalking, Katara realised with a start as she risked a glance over her shoulder, it was stalking them. Well that was definitely worse than just following them. Zuko was beginning to lean more heavily on her and the basket of Cat Toads on her back certainly wasn't making her trek along the side of the cliff any easier.

Then she saw it, a dark shadow just in the view of the lamp the rope, stretching from the tree Zuko had left it tied to and dropping away over the cliff edge.

"Okay Zuko we're almost at the rope"

Katara looked up at the prince who nodded slightly. His eyes were screwed shut and sweat sheened across his face. Slowly keeping Zuko as steady as she could Katara approached the edge of the cliff.

"Where's this cave?"

She asked craning her neck out to peer down into the chasm. She was certain she would have noticed a yawning gap in the wall on her way up.

"Just to the left of the rope, not far, three metres"

Zuko bit out before he nearly slipped away from her in a faint Katara caught him before he hit the ground. But despite the fact Zuko had barely eaten in three days he was still incredibly heavy to heavy for Katara to keep supported by herself, she buckled to the ground. Her knees came into solid contact with the dry hard earth as she struggled to keep herself from falling down completely. Zuko slipped away from her crumpling to the ground shivering like a leaf. His gaze wide but unfocused.

Katara didn't have the time to make it to her feet before the Komodo Tiger attacked. She saw it out of the corner of her eye as it pounced and rolled to the side leaving Zuko prone on the ground a few feet away. The animal landed where Katara had been barely a few moments ago muscles rippling and pulling taught under it's furred back. It let out a low hiss as a forked tongue slithered out from between it's teeth. Slowly without paying Katara any heed the Komodo Tiger began to move towards Zuko. The former price had started to move a bit more groaning as he did so but still was in no position to get up and fight the animal creeping up on him. In a motion that after spending so long in a war now seemed like a second nature Katara uncorked her Water pouches and bought up two identical strings of water. They hung poised at the tip of her fingers ready to do whatever she willed them too. But even with all the speed she had acquired in using her water pouch so often she still wasn't quite fast enough. The Komodo Tiger had already sprung off the ground and it was all Katara could do to barrel roll across to Zuko and water whip the beast before it landed. Protecting Zuko's huddled form with her own. The Komodo tiger reeled backwards a drop of blood lazily trickled from the gash the whip had left across it's muzzle. It snarled and prepared to jump again it's back legs tensing. And before Katara could ready another water whip it sprung up in a flurry of Fur, scales, claws and teeth. Without a second thought Katara grabbed a hold of Zuko and rolled over the side of the cliff.

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_STORY NOTES_

_Avatar animals: As I'm sure many people have noticed animals in the Avatar world are a blend of two animals, such as Turtle Ducks or Moose lions. A Komodo tiger is a mix of a Komodo dragon and a tiger. Although techniqually speaking Komodo Dragons are named after the island they are found on and being that the island of Komodo does not exsist in the Avatar world they wouldn't be called that. Of course I have no idea what a cross between a Komodo Tiger should look like anyone who thinks they do feel free to play around witht he concept (Did I just ask for Fanart? Ari you've hit a new low...)_

_Venom: A recent study underaken in Malaysia has proven that many reptile bites including that of the Komodo dragon contain small amounts of Venom, not enough to kill but enough to make the wound swell up and for the pain to be more widespread in fact victims bit on the tip of their fingers complained about stabbing pains all the way up their arms. Venom is in fact very different from Poison, venom is injected into the blood streen through a bite or sting, if digested it will not cause any harm. Poison on the other hand is excereted through the skin. Most venoms attack the nerve system and cause spasms, nausea and extereme muscle pain. Of course if the venom had spread through your body from your side to cause the kind of symptoms I've displayed in Zuko you's be dead. But I can take a poetic liscence can't I?_

_Hunting: Along with being slightly venomous Komodo dragons also have a deadly bacteria that lives in their mouths. They use this to their advantage in hunting. The Komodo dragon has a very weak bite but will bite an animal and follow it until it dies of blood poisoning._

_Metal: When I was in school we had a group of Antartic explorers come to talk to us in Assembly. They had been staying in Scott base New Zealands Antartic base. Basically the entire structure was made of metal and they all suffered gigantic static shocks as the electricity would charge up every time they moved. They actually had to touch the walls every few steps to prevent the shocks getting to large._

Okay I hope you enjoyed reading this, I'll admit to not being the best action author so I apologuise for any lulls in the excitement aswell as my spelling and punctuation. I accept critism just please be constructive and polite.


	9. Chapter 9

Tough

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender_

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When Katara replayed the fall in her mind later it seemed almost impossible that it had taken place in a few seconds. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Zuko slipped from her arms as she spun in the air whipping her hands around drawing the excess water still clinging to the cat toads in the basket and the moisture out of the air around her. And with the slightest flick of a wrist it gathered at the rock wall and stretched outwards freezing as it grew. Zuko hit the Ice ridge on his side his arm splaying out in an odd angle jarred by the contact. Katara hit the ice just as hard. Pain screamed out across her body. She rolled on to her stomach with an audible grunt as the pain dulled to a constant ache. From somewhere next to her Zuko let out a low groaning noise. Shoving her pain aside Katara forced herself onto her knees and as best as she could she shuffled across the ice to Zuko.

"K..Katara?"

He asked weakly not moving from the position he was sprawled in.

"Don't worry we got away from the Komodo Tiger, we're safe" Katara smiled

Zuko nodded gently or at least Katara thought he did with his body shaking as it was it was hard to tell.

"Why am I so cold?" Zuko asked

For a minute Katara's breath caught in her throat and her heart seemed to skip a beat, Zuko looked so suddenly fragile, pale and shaking. Lying in a crumpled heap. Had the venom worked through his body already? Was she too late to heal him? But then she realised she was cold too, the ice! Katara almost laughed out loud of course Zuko was cold, he was lying on a block of ice!

"Can you move?"

She asked gently rolling Zuko onto his back he let out a sharp cry of pain as his arm was moved. Katara frowned, it was definitely broken, still nothing a healing session couldn't take care of. And his side Katara's eyes widened in shock. Zuko's entire middle had swollen and angry blisters spread out from the puncture marks that hadn't stopped bleeding.

"I think...I think..."

Zuko began his breathing harsh and laboured as he tried to sit up

"I think I'm going to be sick!"

He collapsed on his side and began retching, Katara instinctively began to rub his back as his torso heaved. Of course being that he hadn't eaten in a few days there wasn't much in Zuko's stomach to be rid of. But after a few retches with his stomach jumping in his rib cage he wished there was. At least then it would have all been over quickly. Instead he was forced to endure the nausea as bile rose up his throat. Katara bent it away from his mouth as he began to cough it up while whispering unintelligible soothing words her hands cool on his back.

"Is that everything?"

She asked gently her face swam into Zuko's vision. He nodded groggily as he tried to sit up. He fell back down onto the ice with a sharp cry of pain. A cry that almost drowned out the sound of the ice cracking as his body fell on it. Katara looked down her eyes wide with shock at the split spreading outwards from Zuko's body.

She allowed herself one second to realise that of course the ice was going to crack, it wasn't very thick and Zuko was a firebender. Then she sprang into action. Heaving Zuko up not entirely gently she threw herself towards the cave, the entrance of which yawned just above the ice ledge. She landed on the hard rock floor just as the ice ledge cracked in half and disappeared into the chasm. Zuko lay just behind her slumped up against the cave wall groaning.

"Zuko?"

Katara asked gently a soft 'mmph' was all she got in reply as Zuko continued to shiver

"I'm going to heal you, so just stay still and calm"

This time she got no reply. Frowning and fighting down the twinge of panic that had started to twist in her gut Katara got to work.

She laid her hands on Zuko's side gently, though not so gently that he didn't let out a hiss of pain as she did so, and concentrated. She felt the not so steady hum and pulse of Zuko's blood as it surged through his system and then the venom. It was like ink being dropped in water thin and light spreading out in tendrils through the blood. Katara knew what she had to do. She had desperately hoped it wouldn't come to this but she saw no other way to remove the venom, she would have to bloodbend.

She wasn't controlling anyone, Katara forced herself to remember. She wasn't going to control Zuko, she was just going to separate the venom from the blood so she could get a proper hold on it. It wasn't even really bloodbending, she told herself, she was just healing him, mending his blood. Taking a deep breath Katara took a hold of the blood she could still feel buzzing below her finger tips.

It wasn't easy taking control of Zuko's blood. Bloodbending was just like waterbending, but there was so much more finesse involved. It didn't help that Zuko's blood had become so erratic she could barely keep a hold on it. But Katara eventually got a rhythm going keeping the blood flowing with one hand and slowly easing the venom towards the puncture wounds. It was hard, her hands began to crap as she held them rigidly above the wound making all her movements with her wrists which were also beginning to ache, the venom was slippery in comparison to the blood. It was an uphill struggle just keeping it in her metaphorical grasp. But after what felt like an eternity Katara pulled the venom to the tip of Zuko's wound. It was a thin yellowy liquid and there wasn't much of it. With one swift swipe of her left hand Katara drew it away from the wound.

She stared at the small amount of liquid suspended above her hand for a few seconds. This was what had done so much harm to Zuko? It didn't seem like much, it wasn't much. When bent into a ball the venom wouldn't even cover the diameter of the pendant on her mother's necklace. Her mother's necklace, the one that Zuko stole. Well the one that Zuko said he hadn't stole but Katara doubted that. She flung the venom away from her to some dark corner of the cave and turned to the Fire Prince still slumped against the wall. Her face set into a frown, she was supposed to be angry with him, she was supposed to hate him. He was a terrible person, a liar, a traitor. She did hate him, she did! Katara told herself desperately she hated him and his entire family! His entire Nation even!

But Katara didn't want to hate him, she didn't want to hate anyone. . It was odd, part of her wanted to hate him, to blame him. It was so easy to blame him so, so easy. But part of her wanted to forgive him. Aang had once asked Zuko if they could have been friends and looking at him now Katara couldn't help but wonder if maybe they could have been friends too.

She imagined the world unblemished by war. And Zuko with a perfect face devoid of the mark of the banished prince. Just for a second she pictured it, how clean the ice would be without a centuries worth of ash captured in it, the beauty of the Fire Nation it's land and water, flesh and blood not tainted by factory run off, the strength of the Earth Kingdom it's people free and unburdened while Air Nomads circled in the skies. In this clean beautiful earth could she and Zuko have been friends? Katara turned to the unconscious prince, could they be friends now?

Almost as if he sensed she was looking at him Zuko began to stir. He shifted slightly against the wall and let out a grunt of discomfort.

"Oma!"

He called out weakly raising one arm and groping blindly at the air. Katara frowned, what was he talking about?

"Oma!"

Zuko called again stronger this time. Katara kneeled down next to him and took his outstretched hand in hers.

"What's wrong Zuko?"

She asked carefully surveying the bite marks along his torso, with the venom out of his system the swelling had gone down but they still needed healing. But Katara wasn't sure she had the energy to heal them right now, bending Zuko's blood had taken a lot out of her, and even if she did have the energy she had no water, she had emptied both her water skins creating the ice ledge. Zuko slowly opened his eyes and smiled at her but there was something odd about it. Almost like the smile on his face wasn't quite his, and was it her imagination but did his damaged eye look slightly wider. Katara shook her head, it was just the bad light from the lantern.

"Where's the light?"

Zuko asked looking up. Katara reached for the lantern and held it in front of his face.

"Here, it's coming from the lantern" She explained but Zuko shook his head.

"No not that light" he sat up slightly and blew the lantern out.

"You idiot, what was that for, we can't go back down the cliff without any light"

Katara cried angrily, so what if he was injured that was no reason to go blowing out lanterns! Especially ones that were almost out of oil. But after her temper calmed down enough to remember Zuko was a firebender she noticed that said firebender was looking up at the ceiling of the cave his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Where are they" He asked.

"Where are what?"

"The crystals"

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_STORY NOTES_

_Swelling and blisters: Another non fatal but very painful effect of venomous bites. Especially common in snake and lizard bites. Many victims of such bites will experience rapid swelling within five minutes of being bitten and blisters will spread out from the bite marks depending on the venom. _

_Sickening: Anyone who has ever thrown up on an empty stomach will agree it is absolutely horrible, you stomach just keeps jumping up and down in your chest just to make absolutely sure there is nothing in there to be free of._

_Bloodbending: Not a lot is known about this technique as there are only two people who know it and one of them is a crazy old hag. But I imagine to remove forgien liquids from the body and really to do anyhting other than control it would take a lot of knowledge of the human body, the kind one might pick up in a Northern Water Tribe healing hut. _

_Venom: The venom I have described her is snake venom, slightly yellow in colour and designed to attack the nervous system, of course that's not the only type of snake venom but it is the most common._

_Amount: the amount of venom injected into any victim from any animal is always in relation to the animals size and the potantcy of the venom. Komodo tigers are large but their venom is highly toxic and therefore they do not have to use much._

_Anyway that's all for now, I hope you enjoyed it. I'd just like to take the time here to say thank you to all my loyal reveiwers I really enjoy reading what you have to say and apprieciate your thoughts. Okay please excuse any punctuation and spelling mistakes you find here, I'm still on the look out for a beta reader and if you think you're up for it please contact me, also if you already have, I have to apologuise I've got a new e-mail account and haven't quite had time to empty out m old one it's on my families computer as opposed to mine. _

_I accept critism just please be constructive and polite _

_Ari Out_


	10. Chapter 10

Tough ten

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender_

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"Crystals?"

Katara looked up at the roof of the cave in confusion, why on earth would Zuko be asking about crystals? She turned back to the prince.

"They won't find us here, they never will, it's our cave Oma, our secret"

He smiled that odd smile again the one that didn't seem to fit his face. Katara felt a stone drop into her gut as she ripped her hand out of Zuko's.

"Stop it!"

She yelled.

"Zuko, stop it you're speaking nonsense and it's starting to scare me!"

Katara wasn't the type of girl who scared easy, sure there were things she was afraid of but they consisted mainly around the safety of Aang, Sokka, Toph and more recently The Duke Haru and Teo. Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation was something she was _not_afraid of. She had been once, what seemed like an eternity ago. When Zuko was a stranger in a land of snows. A boy with an angry scar and even angrier face that didn't seem to fit quite right in his battle armour. Katara had been a child then, of course 'then' had barely been a year ago. A child with nothing other than her grandmother's stories of the world beyond hers to prepare her for what was about to come.

But oh how she had grown up since then, she had not been afraid of Zuko since he tied her to a tree, any fear she might have felt towards him disappeared and was replaced with white hot anger when he taunted her with her mothers necklace and then pity as she sat with with him underneath Ba Sing Se.

But Zuko didn't stop talking instead he continued a calm expression on a face that didn't seem to be his.

"Our caves Oma, we built them together, you and I, last time. Don't you remember, we met on top of the mountain..."

Zuko broke off his face furrowing in confusion

"...no we didn't. We met half way up it, you were in my tribes territory, stealing watercress from our lake. What was the name of that lake? Oh now I remember Dragon tear lake"

Katara stared at him her breath caught in her throat as she remembered tunnels with glowing ceilings and a city named after the two lovers that had made them, Omashu.

"We built our tunnels under that mountain far below the lake. And we were so happy, Oma you and I."

At this point Zuko broke off into a soft laugh he turned to Katara.

"Do you remember how happy we were? Oh and the eggs Oma, you must remember those, I know it's been a long time, so many life times since then, but you must remember them. We loved those eggs, we loved them so much we became thieves. I stole the eggs from my villages duckpigs, I had to get up early in the morning to do it, so early it was probably still night! And I could only take a few, so no one would get suspicious, and you bought the salt. Do you remember when your old Aunt caught you taking the salt and you had to lie and say you were taking it to make an offering to the great mountain spirit! You said when you died your heaven would be filled with salt!"

Zuko laughed heartily and strangely enough Katara felt a bubble of laughter rise from within her too.

"We laughed together then too"

Zuko turned to her his tone lightly serious, Katara grew silent but Zuko continued on.

"We didn't need to steal the lime, there was plenty of that in the tunnels. We put that lime and salt into jars and added those precious eggs and left them. Ten days, that's how long we left them, you were so impatient Oma, you wanted to eat them all at once! But I wanted to as well! Then we mixed up some mud and coated each egg in it. We put them out under the sun to dry and buried them in the Earth. They were so delicious, creamy and salty we made so many of those eggs and then we couldn't eat them"

"Why not?

Before she could stop herself the question had slipped past her mouth, oh great one Katara, lets just encourage Zuko's delusions.

"Our villages, they were starving. The war had driven all the animals from the mountains and the crops had failed. We tried our hardest Oma to feed them, we hunted over the mountains through the tunnels all the secret places we knew for anything to eat. Cave hoppers Grasshopperflies even wolfbats. We gave whatever we caught to our people but in time even that wasn't enough. How could we eat our eggs when all around us people were starving. In the end we decided to split our eggs with our families, we argued for hours over how many we should give them and when we should given them out. But in the end we agreed, we always agreed in the end."

Zuko smiled turning back to the wall in front of him slowly his face became serious but even scowling his face didn't seem quite like Zuko's.

"Our happiness wasn't going to last"

he said sadly giving a hiss of pain as he tried to sit up. All at once Katara's confusion and uncertainty disappeared and she darted back to Zuko's side and helped him into a sitting position. He looked at her a sad smile on his face and a distant look in his eyes as he bought a warm hand up to cup her cheek. The skin of his palm was nothing like what Katara had expected it to be. She had been expecting soft gentle hands, the hands of a prince but Zuko's hands were nothing like that. They were rough, Katara could feel the callouses on his palm and the smooth burn scars that decorated his fingertips it wasn't entirely unpleasant she had to admit, having Zuko's hand on her cheek.

"You must have been so scared Oma, alone in that dark underworld waiting for me and I never came..."

Once again Zuko's face screwed up in confusion

"...no I did come. But I came late, my village had found out about the tunnels they knew our secret. They called me a Traitor, they shot arrows at me, all over my body. I came to you broken and bleeding. And we sat together just like this, me and you in our tunnels. They were coming for us Oma we could hear them, both of our villages were coming to attack us. I took your hand like this"

Zuko removed his hand from Katara's cheek and clasped it around her hand bringing it up between them.

"Remember with me Oma"

Zuko said. And she did. Fear clutched in her chest and she could smell it all around her and it wasn't the only thing she could smell. Blood, she could smell blood, Shu's blood. It was seeping through his blue robe which really was more red now than blue. They were slumped against each other their hands clasped tightly together. She was scared, so so scared, They were going to find them, the men of his village and the men of hers, they were in the tunnels. Katara could hear them shouting and cursing. So long as they kept their torches burning they were safe, they wouldn't find the crystals unless they let their torches go out. Her face was wet with tears as she pulled Shu closer to her. They lay together in the pale green light waiting for death.

Katara wrenched her hand out of Zuko's taking in a deep breath. Her lungs ached with the action and it took her a few seconds to realise she was no longer an Earthbender in a tunnel filled with glowing crystals. Zuko let out a soft breathy moan slumping down the wall and slipping into unconsciousness. His face no longer looked foreign, and like it wasn't quite his. With a puzzled frown on her face Katara slowly reached her hand out to cup Zuko's cheek half expecting him to snap his eyes open and grasp her wrist in an iron hold before she could touch him. But he didn't wake not even as Katara's hand pressed against his cheek.

Her face softened slightly as she ran her fingers gently across the planes of his face, reassuring herself that he was no longer Shu. Her Fingertips ghosted over the rough skin of his scar and Zuko muttered something that sounded more like a breath than a word. Feeling somewhat guilty with herself Katara withdrew her hands from his face. She forced herself to focus on the puncture marks still marring Zuko's back and abdomen, the bites had topped bleeding but they were still swollen and angry. Katara swiped her hand through the air pulling the moisture out of the humid air around her. She moulded it around her hand like a glove as the water started to glow with a slight hum. She bought it to Zuko' side willing the water to do it's work.Slowly the wounds began to mend themselves until they were nothing more than shiny red marks along his side.

Katara let the water drop from her hand and slumped down in exhaustion next to Zuko as his eyes slowly began to open.

"Shu"

Katara said softly

"Who?"

Zuko asked with a frown as he tried to sit up, he winced and at down again, with a frown he turned his gaze towards his side. He gingerly bought a hand to his where his wounds had been.

"It's going to be tender for a while"

Katara told him softly.

"Agni, I feel awful"

Zuko groaned.

"I took the venom out of your blood but you're still gonna experience a few side effects from it"

"Good to know"

Zuko gasped out before rolling on his side just in time to stop the bile in his throat from being expelled all over Katara, she silently thanked him for his consideration before lifting an arm up and rubbing his back.

"I'll bet you're loving this"

Zuko groaned pitifully as he wiped the back of his arm against his mouth, Katara rolled onto her side her staring at Zuko's back.

"What makes you think that?"

She asked gently Zuko glanced over his shoulder back at her.

"You seem to derive a lot of joy watching me suffer, I mean you couldn't stop laughing when I lost my bending"

"It was ironic, come on you have to admit it "

Katara grinned rolling back onto her other side, Zuko let a small smile stretch across his face

"Yeah it was"

They lay together back to back glancing at each other over their shoulders with slight smiles.

"You know I haven't forgiven you"

Katara said suddenly forcing herself into a sitting position, her muscles ached at the movement and it took her several attempts to find a position that didn't make her lower back feel like it was going to snap away from the rest of her body.

"I know"

Zuko said softly as Katara stood up and offered a hand down to him. He took it and let the Water Tribe girl pull him up, he felt in no way capable of standing on his own Katara didn't protest as he put most of his weight on her and together they made their way to the entrance of the cave.

Katara wasn't sure what had happened back there, when Zuko spoke with a voice that wasn't his and smiled with a foreign face. Or what she had felt when he took her hand, what she had seen so clearly in her mind. It seemed impossible now. Yet as she walked stumbling to the edge of the cave and out into the grey half light as the night was chased away by the sun Katara half expected Zuko would be Shu and she would be wearing a red robe stained a dark crimson with his blood.

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_STORY NOTES_

_Frightening: Katara may seem a little OOC when saying she's scared, but wouldn't you be if someone who in the past twenty four hours had had plenty of oppertunities to sustain a brain injury (Being thrown onto a sheet of ice and then into a cave isn't easy on the noggin) Started to sprout utter nonsense! I would be very scared and checking for a concussion...I should have had Katara do that...sorry._

_Legend: I know the story Zuko/Shu tells isn't exactly the story Katara read in the cave if two lovers but who knows the story better? Shu or whoever created the Tomb. I believe what was written in the tomb was a legend, based on fact with some details changed to make a better story, Meeting on top of a mountain sounds a lot more poetic than meeting halfway up it and stealing watercress. _

_Thousand Year Eggs: I touched on these in chapter three I believe. Thousand year eggs are a delicasy in China, the method I have described here is a traditional way of making them, of course with changes in technology thousand year eggs are no longer made like this, nor are they meant to be kept for a thousand years._

_Salt: Shu states that Oma wanted her heaven to be filled with salt can anyone tell me of a place on earth that's filled with salt...?_

_Poisoning again: Just because Katara removed the poison from Zuko doesn't mean he's out of the woods yet. It takes on average 48 hours to recover from a snake bite enough to be discharged from hospital and even then bedrest is recomended as side effects from the venom will remain also there will still be a wound to deal with, of course being that Katara is a healer I have no idea how long Zuko will be suffering for. _

Okay that's all for now. I would like to take the time here to say that a large portion of this chapter was inspired by Amy Tan's 'The hundred Secret senses' especially the thousand year eggs. Anyway I apologuise for my poor spelling and puncuation and as always I'm still looking for a beta reader so message me if you're interested, I need all the help I can get.

Ari Out


	11. Chapter 11

Tough Eleven

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender_

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The climb down the cliff wasn't easy. Katara went first. The basket of cat toads strapped onto her back offset her balance making it a constant struggle to keep herself from tipping backwards. Zuko went behind her, wrapping the rope around both his wrist and waist in an effort to give his body extra support. It was a very weak effort and they both knew that should he fall, the rope would do nothing for Zuko other than possibly break his wrist. Even if he didn't fall he would still have to suffer through constant rope burn.

But eventually they both made it to the crumbling balcony overlooking the chasm. Katara helped Zuko down from the rope as best she could, but as weak and tired as she was she could no longer support both his weight and her own. They ended up sprawled across each other on the stone floors. Katara was too tired and sore to be annoyed at the fact that Zuko was lying on top of her. Her body ached all over and she could barely feel Zuko's weight through the pain.

She wanted to sleep so badly, she was so tired. But Katara reminded herself forcefully that she couldn't sleep, not yet. She shifted herself as best she could with Zuko on top of her and he let out a low groan in response to the movement, rolling to the side and onto the stones where his eyes drifted open lazily. He groaned again trying to move.

"Agni, everything hurts," he moaned, sitting up. Katara nodded as she also eased into a sitting position.

"Come on." She propped herself onto her knees, ignoring the protests of her muscles, and began to help Zuko do the same.

They leaned against each other as they stumbled through the vast corridors of the Western Air Temple, trying to make as little noise as possible so not as to disturb the temple's still-sleeping residents. Fortunately, Toph slept in a hammock strung from one of the temple's lower arches. Katara had tried to suggest to her that sleeping in a normal bed would be better but Toph had refused to pay her any mind. But so long as she was snuggled up off the floor she wouldn't be able to feel it as Zuko and Katara made their way through the halls.

They went to Zuko's room first. It was closer to the balcony and Katara knew that while she was only sore and tired, Zuko was still suffering through the effects of the venom. Zuko's room was a lot more personal then anyone else's, probably for no other reason than him having more personal possessions than anyone else. A brass bowl filled with a strange smelling wax had been placed in the middle of the room, the wick had already been burnt down to the bottom of the bowl. Portraits of his uncle and a beautiful woman sat on a chair next to his bed, along with a topknot crown that looked at least a hundred years old, and a cloth pack filled with other objects lay discarded in a corner. Observing these things, Katara was devastatingly aware that the only things she owned, really owned, were the clothes on her back and her mother's necklace. All of a sudden this seemed very pitiful.

Taking her attention away from all the things Zuko had brought with him from the palace, Katara helped Zuko lower himself onto the stone slab that in Aang's culture was considered a bed. He shifted uncomfortably and Katara remembered that the woven straw mat which had previously sat on the stone slab serving as a mattress had been woven along with her own into the basket that was still slung across her shoulder.

"If you want, I can get you a new mat from one of the other dormitories," she said.

"Don't worry," Zuko said softly, reaching down for the worn blanket pooled at the foot of the 'bed,' and pulling it over himself.

Katara found herself staring at the portrait of the woman sitting on the chair by Zuko's bed. Who was she? His girlfriend? She certainly looked like the type a Fire Nation prince would be interested in. Not that, Katara reminded herself, she had any idea what type of women Fire Nation princes were interested in. She was intending to ask Zuko just who the woman in the portrait was, but when she turned to face him the prince had already fallen asleep. Watching him sleep, Katara felt a wave of pure exhaustion sweep over her. She suddenly felt too tired to even stumble back to her own room. It was all she could do to remove the basket of Cat Toads from her back and slump down to the floor, propping herself up against Zuko's bed before she too fell asleep.

Katara didn't dream that night, far too exhausted to do anything other than sink into a deep, empty sleep while her body tried to regain it's energy. But still it seemed like barely a minute had passed before Katara began to wake up. She tried not to, curling up on her side and wrapping her arms around her as she became distantly aware she was lying on a very hard surface. Her mind still felt sluggish as she opened her eyes to what was definitely not her bed, nor her room. For one thing, her room was never as sunny as this one, the only time it got any sun was in the evening and even then it was only three thin lines of weak, watery light.

Zuko!

Katara sat up with a start, any trace of sleep banished from her mind. She was in Zuko's room sitting at the base of his bed. Katara sprang to her feet, instantly regretting it as a wave of pain swept over her. Every muscle in her body ached. She bit back the groan that threatened to spill from her lips and steadied herself on her feet as a dizzy feeling overtook her. But when the dizziness had passed and she was almost certain she could walk without experiencing vertigo, Katara turned her attention to Zuko. He was lying on the stone slab, his breathing shallow but steady. His face was paler than usual making the harsh red of his scar stand out, jagged and angry. He slept flat on his back with his blanket draped across his waist revealing the red marks still marring his torso. The swelling had gone down even more overnight and Katara knew she would be able to heal them completely when he awoke.

Or she could heal them now while he was still asleep. That was probably the better option. The wound, though for the most part healed, still looked incredibly painful and Katara knew that his muscles would be sore enough without the wounds on his side. She retied her sash that had become loose while she slept and ran her fingers through her hair, cringing as they snagged through several knots. Then Katara left Zuko's room and padded softly into the halls of the Western Air Temple. The halls were deserted except for the hermit crabs who scuttled around the floors and the peacock doves who had made their nests in the archways. It wasn't hard to look at the vast halls of the Temple and imagine them as they must have been a hundred years ago, filled with Airbenders. Katara could almost feel the emptiness.

The balcony was also deserted but Katara could hear the distant voices of Toph, Aang and the others echoing from some other part of the temple. Good, Katara didn't really feel like having to talk to any of them right now. She already knew they would ask questions as to why she had only just emerged from the depths of the temple at midday. Especially Aang and Sokka would want to know. Aang because he was worried and Sokka because he wanted to know why she hadn't been up to make breakfast. She tried to keep her footsteps soft and even so not as to alert Toph, who she could hear yelling about 'seaweed' or something. Her shout was met with the pounding of feet and screams of laughter.

Katara made her way to the fountain and sat on it's rim. She uncorked her first waterskin, running her fingertips along the old cork inscribed with a faded 'H.' Katara had found the waterskin among various other items her Gran-Gran had packed for her and Sokka to take on their journey with Aang. Katara had always wondered where she had even gotten the waterskin from; what sort of waterbender would abandon their greatest tool?

She knew now of course, the kind that didn't have a choice. The kind that were stolen from their homes and put in metal cages with dry air. Holding the waterskin steady, Katara bent a ribbon of water from the fountain and poured it into the skin until it was full before slinging it over her shoulder and uncorking another one. She filled all four of her waterskins to the brim and secured them across each other on her back before leaving the balcony and the distant sound of laughter.

Zuko wasn't awake when Katara returned to his room but he had moved his arms so that instead of draping across his chest they were splayed above his head. He smelt of stale sweat with the slightest hint the flowery smoke that curled up from the many incense sticks he had placed before the portraits of his uncle and the mysterious woman. Katara didn't even want to think about how bad she must smell, all she knew was the minute she had healed Zuko she was taking a trip to one of the temple's many bathrooms. None of the baths were in any condition to hold water, and like the rest of the temple they were designed for Nuns who had forsaken all earthly comforts. But one of the first things Katara had done upon arrival in the temple was divide what was left of the soap she had purchased in Ba Sing Se among the temple's residents and offer what she could spare of her cooking pots as basins. Everyone would have to take bedbaths. Just because they were hiding from the most powerful nation in the world in an abandoned temple did not give anyone an excuse to neglect personal hygiene. Still, she could understand everyone's reluctance when it came to taking baths in the western air temple - it was more of a chore than anything else. Of course, having Zuko around to heat the water had made the whole ordeal that much less unpleasant.

Katara gazed down at the sleeping Fire Prince, her expression softening. Maybe he wasn't completely useless. The strange half-and-half feeling that swept over her whenever she thought about Zuko and what he had done was all getting a bit much for Katara so she forced herself to focus instead on healing him. She drew the water out of her pouch and pressed it against Zuko's side.

When trying to explain the technique to Aang so that he could learn how to heal, Katara was alarmed to find she couldn't do it. No matter how hard she tried she just couldn't find the words. In the end, after several unsuccessful attempts Aang had cut her off.

"So what you're saying is, it's kind of like instinct?"

"Yes!" Katara had cried out, relieved to have some way to describe her healing. It was the perfect way to describe the technique. And as she pressed her hands to Zuko's side, the healing instinct once again came over her and Katara found herself binding the Fire Lord's skin together.

As the red marks completely disappeared from his skin, Katara withdrew her hands from Zuko's side. She pulled the water away and directed it back into her pouch. She had just finished re-corking it when a soft "hey" drew her attention back to the boy lying on the stone bed. Zuko looked so peaceful with a soft smile on his pale face and the bright midday sun shining across him in lines streaming from the windows placed all along the far side of the room. It was almost heartbreaking how beautiful he looked in that moment, gentle and soft. Katara had never thought that anyone from the Fire Nation could look so fragile. She shook her head slightly reminding herself that people from the Fire Nation were not in anyway soft, gentle or fragile.

"How's your side?" she asked, busying herself with the basket of cat toads that still lay on the ground where she had discarded it the previous night. Easing herself into a kneeling position, Katara set about removing the makeshift lid. She heard Zuko moving behind her before two pale hands joined hers. Katara looked up from the basket, her eyes meeting Zuko's.

"It's better," he rasped, not breaking the eye contact. They stared at each other for what seemed to be an eternity, neither daring to look away for fear that the unnamed gravity that hung between them would be lost. In the end however it was Katara who broke the contact, remembering that she still hadn't forgiven Zuko.

Her expression turned stony as she cast her glance downwards with a mumbled, "We'd better get these ready to cook."

Zuko also looked away, focusing his attention back on the basket as he removed the lid.

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_STORY NOTES_

_Pictures: Apperently portraits of family and loved ones are very popular in the Fire Nation and in the Western Air Temple it is evidenced that Zuko bought a prtrait of Iroh with him when he left the palace. _

_Waterskin: It has never been revealed where exactly Katara got her original waterskin from much less the extra three she was shown weilding in the day of black sun. I think it's more than likely that Katara's waterskin used to belong to another waterbender. And what waterbender do we know that has a 'H' in their name?_

_Bedbath: A bedbath is basically the same as a spongebath it involves filling a basin with water and washing one selfs down. _

_Anyway Thanks for reading, I hoped you enjoy it. And I'd like to take this oppertunity to say a big thank you to my new Beta Reader Saucebender! She's going to be editing my work from now on. And if you get the chance go check out her story 'Dreambenders'_

_Ari Out_


	12. Chapter 12

Tough twelve

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender._

**Warning: If you are a vegeterian or of a sensitive nature be forwarned that this chapter contains material that you may find disturbing.**

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Katara reached into the basket and closed her hands around a cat toad, still slimy with algae still wrapped around its body. She set about pulling the algae off and placing it on the upturned lid, then setting the cat toad down next to it.

"You should be lying down," she said, as Zuko pulled a cat toad out of the basket and also began tearing away at the algae that clung to it.

"I'm fine," he said quietly, placing the algae he had pulled from the cat toad on top of the small pile on the basket lid. Katara narrowed her eyes slightly, but eventually she turned her attention back to the cat toads. It took about half an hour for the pair to pull all of the algae from the dead animals and clump it onto the lid. Then Katara placed the cat toads back into the basket before handing it to Zuko and carefully picking up the lid. He stared down at it as Katara headed for the door. When she reached it she turned back to him.

"Well, aren't you coming? We need to get everything ready to eat."

Zuko raised his gaze from where he had been scanning his room, his expression confused.

"Where's my shirt?"

Katara had spent the better part of two days upon the group's arrival in the temple trying to find the kitchen. Her search had been unsuccessful and at some points dangerous. Years of being open to the elements had caused some of the temple's hallways and pagodas to become unstable. In the end she had given up and just set up a cooking area on the balcony. It wasn't much, really. A simple fire pit with stones arranged around it. Piled around the fire pit, wherever they would fit and still look slightly organized, were half a dozen pots, at least two pans, several utensils and chipped clay bowls.

When she arrived on the balcony Zuko was behind her in one of the many shirts he had bought with him to the temple. It looked very much like his old shirt except instead of plain sleeves it was embroidered with golden dragons stitched into an eternal chase against a phoenix. The first thing Katara did was fetch a pot from the stack by the fire pit and go about filling it with water from the fountain. She glanced over her shoulder to where Zuko was still standing in the archway holding the basket.

"Well?" She asked.

"What?"

"Aren't you going to start skinning those cat toads? I'm going to be cooking the algae."

"Skinning…" Zuko trailed off, staring down at the basket and feeling his stomach turn slightly. He had never skinned an animal before. He had only made one kill in his life and he never had the chance to gut it, or anything else along the lines of preparing it for consumption. Instead, he had had to make a mad dash to the nearest town, hoping that it had a healer and that his uncle hadn't drank enough poisonous tea for it to be fatal.

"You do know how to skin an animal don't you?" Katara asked as she began to swirl the water around in the pot, getting the algae caught up in the current. Now, Zuko had been raised in the presence of his prodigy sister with constant whispers from other court members and not so hushed jibes from said prodigy about his utter incompetence in just about every field imaginable. But never in all his life had he ever felt more

incompetent than he did standing in one of the Western Air Temple's many grand archways, holding on to a basket of cat toads with a Water Tribe girl staring at him and stirring a pot of algae.

"Well I uhh… I've never really had to before. I mean…"

Katara broke him off with a harsh glance as she eased herself away from the algae and made her way over to him. She muttered under her breath as she took the basket out of his hands and strode back to the pile of utensils, drawing out a water tribe knife.

"Watch carefully," she ordered, taking a cat toad out of the basket and holding it on its back in her left palm while brandishing the knife in her right one. Zuko fought the urge to look away as Katara took the knife and inserted it in one swift jab up its rear. She sliced all the way up to the creature's throat, and hooking her fingers under its ribcage, pulled out the internal organs in one swift tug. Tossing them into the chasm, she slipped another finger under the skin flap at it's neck pulling the skin away from the Cat toad so that it hung from her fingers in one piece, looking almost like a jacket. It was over in a matter of seconds and it was all Zuko could do to stare at the bare carcass still sitting in Katara's hands with both awe and disgust. Katara busied herself with chopping the cat toad into five pieces, discarding what could not be eaten and placing what was edible into a pan.

She then offered the knife to Zuko with a simple, "Your turn."

Zuko stared at the knife in her hand. The handle was made of ivory with some beast that must have roamed the land of snows carved into it. The blade, Zuko realized, was made from Fire Nation iron.

"Well, come on. We don't have all day." Katara thrust the knife forward even further. Slowly Zuko inched a hand out and took it. Katara nodded and went back to the algae with a casual, "take a bowl and drain the blood before you gut the next one, we'll need it for the stew."

"What?!" Zuko's gaze snapped up from the knife.

"The blood, drain it so we can put it in the stew," Katara said simply.

"But, is that even edible?" Zuko demanded, not even bothering to try and hide the disgust on his face.

"Sure we ate blood all the time back home... Well, drank it actually. But it can be eaten if you let it congeal."

The Fire Prince's good eye widened at the revelation as images from his history scrolls of Water Tribe savages dressed in pelts barely off the animal with weapons made of bone and painted faces rampaged in a trail of blood through his mind.

"I, I thought that was just a legend," Zuko said softly, as for the first time he realized how Katara's hair clasps were made of bone and that striped design on her water pouch was not something she had added to beautify them. He remembered the robes she had worn throughout many of their previous encounters, dirty and worn with white fur trimming the hem and the fur moccasins she had worn with soles so soft that even as she had paced angrily behind him in the caverns beneath Ba Sing Se her heavy footfalls had barely made a sound.

"You thought what was a legend?" Katara asked, leaving the pot of algae and digging around in the leather pouch that lay among the pile of pots and pans and pulling out a pair of spark rocks.

"That the Water Tribe drank the blood of their enemies."

The words had barely left Zuko's mouth when Katara spun on her heel to face him, a scowl etched into her face, her eyes steely.

"Where did you get that idea?" She asked coldly. Zuko opened his mouth to explain his statement but Katara cut him off.

"Oh wait don't tell me, the same place where you learnt that Air Nomads were military geniuses and that the people of the Earth Kingdom were backwater hicks, school. You know, you people really make me sick sometimes. Brainwashing children like that, telling them lies!" She glared angrily at Zuko, waiting for him to rise and defend his nation but much to her shock and disappointment, he didn't. Instead he lowered his gaze in shame.

"An amazing lie," he muttered. His voice was soft and remorseful. Katara felt her own gaze soften as she felt a wave of guilt wash over her. Was it really his fault that he had been lied to his entire life? Before Zuko could look up and catch the pity that had settled into her eyes, Katara took the basket of cat toads out of his hands and turned away briskly.

"You boil the algae. I'll take care of the cat toads." She took the knife out of Zuko's hand. He didn't try to keep a hold on it and let it slide smoothly out of his palm.

It was strangely beautiful watching Katara as she prepared the cat toads to be cooked. Her movements were swift, deliberate and rhythmical. She took care of each one with unbelievable speed, draining blood and pulling skin off like a husk. It hadn't taken long for the algae to boil and it now sat on the lid of the basket, green and slimy, having swelled in size from being in the water. So Zuko had little more to do than watch Katara as she prepared the meal. Not that Zuko minded watching her. He found himself becoming engrossed in the steady rhythm of her hands as she moved them with deft precision through the gruesome task.

"Where did you put that oil you made?" Katara asked, not glancing up from where she was cutting what Zuko assumed could now be called actual meat, as it no longer bore any resemble to any living creature, into smaller pieces.

"It's back in my room, why?" Zuko looked up quickly, feeling slightly guilty that he had been paying so much attention to Katara's hands as she worked.

"I'm going to need it to brown the meat, so you'll have to go get it," Katara said looking over her shoulder. With a curt nod Zuko eased himself up from where he had been sitting on one of the temples many broken pillars and left for the recesses of the temple. Katara watched him leave before turning back to the task at hand.

Life in the Water Tribe had always been tough, even before the men had left for war. Both Katara and Sokka had been expected to do what they could to assist the tribe. One of Katara's earliest memories was sitting contently in her families winter igloo chewing on her father's parka so that the leather would remain soft. Clothing maintenance was a constant uphill battle in the Water Tribe as the Caribou Elk leather cracked if it wasn't allowed to dry out gradually. Gran Gran had all but worn her teeth down to the gums after years of chewing on her family's garments to stop this process. Cooking had always been one of the easier chores around the house, or at least one that Katara didn't dread. After her mother's death Katara had taken on more responsibility in the household and had become almost solely responsible for the family's meals.

Of course in the Water tribe, as Zuko had just discovered, being responsible for a meal did not mean telling a palace chef that you were hungry. Really, what did he think, animals just skinned and gutted themselves? Katara snorted as she placed the last of the meat into the cast iron pan. Pampered little prince...with surprisingly rough and calloused hands. Katara subconsciously enclosed her left hand around her right one, rubbing her thumb across her palm, remembering what Zuko's hands had felt like when he had clasped them around hers the night before.

Katara knew that she should probably forget about what had taken place between her and Zuko last night. He obviously had, but everything still rang in the back of her mind. The smell of fear and blood sweeping over her, seeing the faint green glow of crystals through eyes that weren't hers. Everything had seemed so real, yet… not.

Any further musings she might have had on the matter were halted when Zuko returned to the balcony with the jar of oil.

"Here," he rasped, handing it to her. "It's not much but I hope it's enough."

Katara nodded and gathered up the spark rocks she had discarded in order to prepare the cat toads. She was just about to strike them together when a shot of fire flew past her, igniting the kindling gathered in the fire pit. Katara poured the oil from the jar into the pan. It was thick and almost globulous in texture. The leftover remnants of the sesame seeds that Zuko had made it from dotted the liquid, marring its clear, golden tint. It began to bubble furiously as it was spread across the hot iron and the meat. Katara shifted the meat around with a bamboo rice paddle.

She really only had three cooking utensils, well she had had more but Aang had managed to sweep them, along with just about everything else they owned, downstream in the Earth Kingdom. The rice paddle she had picked up from Kyoshi. A private silly act of revenge against Aang, she had bought it with the money she had been intending to put towards an egg custard tart for him. There was a pair of poorly lacquered chopsticks from Chin Village. They had obviously been a part of the town's annual festival as pairs of chopsticks were being handed out to everyone. But while everyone else was using them for the fried festival foods before discarding them, Katara had held on to hers. Finally, there was a large, and for the most part, decorative brass spoon Katara had bought with the money Toph had made off her scams. She had insisted on returning the money or at least putting it into some needy cause, but the others had been more than happy to convince themselves the Fire Nation owed them and went about buying trinkets and frozen sweets. Katara at least put her share of the money towards something usable and nice. Even if it was for the good of the group, she deserved something nice.

Of course, the rice paddle wasn't really suited for frying. The handle was far to short and specks of boiling oil were constantly splaying up from the sizzling pan and burning her skin. Every few seconds Katara drew her hand away from the pan with a sharp hiss. Her dress was getting the worse of it though. While the oil on her skin may have stung, it stained small, golden brown dots on the light blue fabric. Dots that Katara knew would not wash out. Then again, she thought, her dress was so ragged already that no one would probably even notice the stains.

When the colour of the meat had changed from a deep red to brown, Katara reached for the bowl of blood and poured it into the pan. Much to Zuko's surprise it began to bubble. Katara took a handful of the boiled algae from the pile sitting on the basket lid and added it to what was beginning to look more and more like a stew as the blood also changed from it's original red colour to a deep brown. Any thoughts Zuko might have had about blood being unappetizing dissipated as the smell of the stew began to drift up from the pan. Thick and meaty, it instantly reminded Zuko of just how hungry he was.

The smell of cooked meat must have wafted throughout the rest of the temple because it wasn't very long until Aang, Toph, Sokka, Teo, Haru and The Duke burst out from the depths of the temple onto the balcony in a cacophony of giggles and shouts.

"Look Toph I'm just saying that your round was discounted because you had an unfair advantage," Sokka shrugged from where he was striding as the head of the group.

"Unfair advantage! How is not being able to see an advantage!"

"Well I guess in Seaweed it kinda is," Aang said.

"Yeah you can feel where everyone is," The Duke said before sniffing the dribble hanging from his nose and rubbing his sleeve against it violently.

"So what's that got to do with anything?" Toph protested angrily.

"Well, the rest of us can't see everything at once and I suppose you can, so it is unfair," Haru put in.

Toph spun to face the older earthbender with a glare dominating her petite face.

"It's not my fault you're not as good at Earthbending as me," she huffed before breaking free of the group and striding up to Zuko.

"Hey Sparky, ya feeling better?" she demanded, dropping down onto the fallen column next to the firebender and punching him lightly on the arm. Though not lightly enough that Zuko didn't take in a sharp breath and put a hand to where Toph's fist had made contact.

"I'm fine why?" he asked.

"Well you were sick last night right?" Aang said, also taking a seat on the pillar. "Why else would Katara be in your room?"

"Uh, yeah...sick...I was really...sick," Zuko said awkwardly, shifting his gaze to Katara and remembering their agreement to keep quiet about their late night hunt. If Toph felt any uncertainty in his voice she didn't mention it.

"Well at least you had Katara to take care of you. She's the best person to have around when you're sick." Aang grinned in a fashion that absurdly reminded Zuko of a Poodle Monkey expecting a treat for performing a trick. Even more absurd, Zuko realized, was how easy it was to make the comparison between a poodle monkey and the young Avatar.

"Yeah, she was like a personal slave when Aang and me got sick in Ba Sing Se. It would have been totally cool if we weren't sick."

"Aang and I. and you wouldn't have gotten sick if you hadn't insisted on going to the opera house in the middle of the rain," Katara said stiffly, reaching for the clay bowls stacked haphazardly on top of each other next to the fire pit.

"Opera?" Zuko asked with a slight smirk as Toph's normally pale skin turned a rather interesting shade of pink. Fortunately she was spared from any further questions as Katara began to spoon the stew into the waiting bowls.

Katara felt a spark of bitterness as she handed the bowls out one by one to the waiting hands of her friends and family, listening to their complaints of hunger and how they hadn't eaten all day. She wanted to scream at them, she had only had one meal in three days, was she complaining? Her face set into a hard line and she almost, almost lost control of her temper when Sokka took his bowl with an exasperated. "Finally food!"

But she bit back on her tongue before she could say anything scalding towards her brother. And in catching Zuko's eyes as she handed him his bowl of stew, she could see a similar sentiment echoed there. But there was something else in his eyes, a firmness that reminded her that this was how they had wanted things to be. The others would never know what they had suffered through so that they could eat.

She couldn't, however, keep everything inside when Aang took a bite of the boiled algae and cringed in disgust.

"Ugh what is this, it tastes like pond scum!" He pushed the bowl away with an, "I think I'll skip dinner if that's okay."

The feelings of bitterness and anger were wiped away, replaced with absolute sorrow. Tears welled up in her eyes. She had done this, she had worked so hard to get this food and to ensure that Aang especially would not be left out. She felt so hopeless, after everything she and Zuko had been through. The food they had worked so hard to obtain wasn't welcomed. Even the others eating the stew were picking their way around the algae, well not Sokka, but he was eating so fast Katara would have been amazed if he even tasted the food. She barely managed to bite back on a sob. A sob that only Zuko saw trying to burst from her lips. His golden eyes narrowed as he turned to Aang.

"It's food and no, it's not okay! If you're going to keep up with your firebending training you need to keep your strength up," he ordered, perhaps a little to harshly, but still Katara looked up at him with watery eyes. A grateful smile spread across her face as Aang grudgingly began to struggle his way through the algae. The rest of the meal continued in silence.

It was late when finally Katara returned to her room. The temple was a distorted realm of shadows in the darkness and the sound made by the wind whistling through the hallways was all to easy to mistake for the ghosts of Air Nomads longing for justice.

Her room was not empty however when she entered it. Zuko was sitting, bare-chested, on the end of her bed with a bundle of cloth in his lap.

"What are you doing here?" Katara asked, too worn out for hospitality. She began to unstrap her water pouches as Zuko moved from the bed and offered up the cloth to her.

"This is for you," he rasped. At first Katara took no notice as she continued to remove her waterskins one by one and place them by her bed. She finally turned to Zuko and took the cloth from his hands. It was silk, blue silk as soft as a whisper against her fingertips.

"Why?" she asked, still marveling over the material and running her fingers across it.

"Your robe, it's stained from the oil and..." Zuko trailed off before clearing his throat and continuing. "I brought this from the palace, it's a blanket but I'm sure if you uh, trimmed it, you could make it into a robe."

Katara snapped her attention away from the silk to face Zuko, anger sparking across her face. Was he pitying her again? But then as she gazed back at the silk, her face softened. No this wasn't pity, this was kindness. Kindness she was ready to accept.

"Thank you."

Zuko nodded and left while Katara put the silk down on her bed in place of a pillow and dreamt of a cave of green crystals and two reunited lovers.

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_STORY NOTES_

_Blood and guts: Okay to be fair I did warn those of you with sensitive natures to be wary in reading this chapter. I have little to no tolerance for people who don't understand where their meat comes from. I understand people who are vegetarians because of the process by which animals are made into meat I understand people who although they know about it but never want to take part in it. _

_Chores: In 'The boy in the Iceberg' Gran Gran told Katara she couldn't play with Aang because she had chores. Katara and Sokka obviusly did a lot of work around the tribe. They were also shown hunting together so it's more than likely that Katara being the girl took care of preparing and cooking what they caught._

_Okay everyone thats all from me this time. This is the last chapter in the first story arc of 'Tough' the second arc will be coming after christmas. Anyway this was beta'd by the lovely Saucebender who has a lovely new holiday story up. Anyway I accept critism just please be constructive and polite. _

_Merry Christmas Everyone_


	13. Interlude one

Tough interlude one

Hello everyone! I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone before the second arc of Tough gets under way for keeping up with the story so far. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, I have really enjoyed reading your comments and they have really inspired me.

I would also like to thank everyone who volunteered to Beta for me, I'm sorry I could Choose only one!

As all of you know I decided on the amazing Saucebender as my Beta reader in the end and she is doing a wonderful job of improving my grammar and my spelling, as I'm sure many of you have noticed.

A special thank you to

Janedoe401

Lucrezia6565

Djagito

Leathe

illico

Burning ice

Pepperikeys

The Gandhara

Xyzisme

and

Kazter

For all their lovely reviews and the advice and support they have given me. I'm really appreciative for everything.

Alright I know it's a little stupid but I'm one of those people who listens to songs and relates them to characters so here's the 'Soundtrack' for the first arc of 'Tough'

Alison Krauss, 'Deeper than crying' Zuko and Katara Chapter Ten

"_Leaving is the longest word I've ever learned_

_In the time it takes to say it the whole world has turned_

_If a heartbeat lasts a lifetime then I've lived before_

_'cause I remember standing at this open door_

_HThis path is not the one I'd choose to travel_

_Even as we watch what tied us unravel"_

Alison Krauss 'The scarlet Tide' Oma and Shu

"_Man goes beyond his own decision_

_Gets caught up in the mechanism_

_Of swindlers who act like kings _

_And brokers who break everything_

_The dark of night was quickly fading_

_Close to the dawn of day_

_Why would I want him just to lose him again_

_We'll rise above the scarlet tide_

_That trickles down through the mountain_

_And separates the widow from the bride"_

Annie Lenox 'Into the West' Katara and Zuko, Oma and Shu

"_Lay down your sweet and weary head_

_Night has fallen you've come to journey's end_

_Sleep now and dream of the ones who came before_

_They are calling from across a distant shores"_

"_Hope fades into the world of night_

_Through shadows falling_

_Out of memory and time_

_Don't say we have come now to the end_

_White shores are calling _

_You and I will meet again"_

Teitur 'You're the Ocean' Zuko and Katara

"_There's really nothing you can do_

_You're going where I'm going too_

_I'm fire you're the ocean_

_I'm energy and you're the rhythm_

_Love is somewhere in between _

_What you believe and what you dream"  
_

Okay that's all from me everyone, I'm working on the Second arc of tough and I hope you will enjoy it!

AriTeir


	14. Arc Two chapter 1

Tough arc two

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the last Airbender_

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The Duke woke her up around midnight. He was barely dressed, with his helmet sliding off his head haphazardly, revealing a clump of matted hair beneath it.

"Toph won't stop being sick," he said, his voice drenched in fear and worry. He looked like a lost little boy, with tears forming in his eyes, and his mouth quivering in the effort not to cry.

Katara sat bolt upright, her blanket slipping off her as any traces of sleep were banished from her mind. She swung her feet over the side of her bed and reached for her tunic, which she always kept folded at the base of the "bed." Well, Aang insisted the stone slab was a bed, although Katara still couldn't help but liken it to a sacrificial alter. She slipped her arms through the sleeves and secured the blue silk to her body. She wrapped what had once been a pure white sash, but after a year of continual use had become a dull grey colour, around herself several times. She tied the sash with quick, nimble fingers and leaving her legs bare, strapped her water skins to her back. She strode out of her room with The Duke following close behind her.

Worry and concern swirled through Katara's mind as she and The Duke made their way through the halls of the Western Air Temple. Her room was further away and deeper into the cliff side than where the others had chosen to claim their own dwellings. She had chosen it because sometimes, when it was completely quiet, she could make out the distinct sound of rushing water from somewhere beyond the stone walls. And truth be told, in the Western Air Temple Katara felt more than a little cut off from her element. Sure, there was the fountain, but Katara was a child of the Water Tribe. She needed a bigger presence of Water to feel truly comfortable. Even Sokka, despite being a non-bender, had admitted to having the same sentiments, to a lesser and much manlier degree.

Toph of course had no room in the Western Air Temple, preferring to sleep in a hammock strung up from one of the many archways. As far as the young Earthbender was concerned, if they were going to live in an abandoned temple like a bunch of runaways, (which of course they technically were) then she was at least going to act like one.

The Duke however, didn't lead Katara to the arch where Toph usually hung her hammock. Instead, he took her to Aang's room. The room Aang had chosen wasn't a bedroom at all, but a meditation room with peeling murals of flying bison, monks and terrifying spirits with tusked teeth and large rolling eyes on every wall. Katara didn't know how he could sleep with such images all around him, but Aang had explained that although the spirits looked scary and even evil, they weren't.

Sokka was sitting on the ground outside Aang's room, his legs tucked up under his chin and his head between them. He looked up at Katara with his face pale and bile dribbling down from the side of his mouth.

"I...I tried to help...but she just kept throwing up you know, and...and..." He trailed off miserably and Katara nodded.

Sokka had had a weak stomach ever since he had gotten two fish hooks stuck in his thumb. Sure, he could laugh about it now, but at the time it had been anything but funny. Blood had been everywhere. Gran-Gran and Bato had held Sokka down while Hakoda had fought to keep a hold on his son's hand long enough to remove the hooks. It wasn't as easy as just pulling them out. The hooks had been specially designed so that they couldn't simply be pulled out. Hakoda had to push the hooks in further before they could be unhinged from Sokka's flesh. Sokka had screamed and thrashed until Katara managed to get close enough to him to force some alcohol down his throat from a clay jar that had been salvaged from the Fire Nation ship.

Sokka had had what could best be described as a weak stomach ever since. He turned pale at the sight of blood. The smell of vomit could make him queasy for hours and the sight of it was enough to make him throw up as well, which was obviously what had happened.

"Are you going to be okay?" Katara asked, kneeling down in front of her brother. Sokka nodded slightly and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand.

"Just feeling shaky," he said, offering a shaky smile. Katara smiled back and pushed the strands of hair that had come free from his wolf tail back from his forehead. She then stood took a deep breath, dusted her tunic off and pushed open the wooden door that led to Aang's room.

The room stank of vomit, that was the first thing Katara noticed about it. Toph lay on Aang's bed mat shaking uncontrollably. Tears were streaming down her face, which was even paler than usual. Her normally round cheeks looked hollow and sunken, making the dark rings under her eyes even more prominent. Aang sat next to her. He had a wooden bowl in his lap, poised to be thrust under Toph's chin the minute she started gagging, although it was pretty obvious he hadn't been quick enough with it. He held Toph's left hand and stroked her hair as she muttered unintelligently. looked up at Katara as she entered the room, but snapped his gaze back down as Toph began retching and coughing. At a speed that only an Airbender could muster, Aang had eased Toph into a seated position and had the wooden bowl directly underneath her mouth just in time for her to empty her stomach into it.

"I..I wa...want Ka...ta..ra," she sobbed pitifully, as bile dribbled down her chin and onto her robes. Aang took the bowl away.

"I'm right here Toph." Katara knelt down on Toph's right side, sweeping her bangs away and placing a palm against her warm forehead. Being a waterbender, Katara's hands seemed to be continuously cool, and Toph sighed in the obvious relief of having it on her forehead.

"I'm here now Toph, what do you need?" Katara said softly. The younger girl looked up at her with unusually bright eyes. It seemed as if another film had been added to the opaque one that signified her blindness.

"Do you think you could get Cook to make some Egg Drop soup Katara?" She asked.

Katara frowned. "Toph, we don't have a cook."

"Of course we do! Tell her Aang, every time we get sick you get Cook to make us Egg Drop soup and then Zuko reads to us until we fall asleep."

"She's been talking like this for an hour now," Aang whispered to Katara.

"An Hour!? Why didn't you get me sooner?"

"Well, she wasn't throwing up then!"

Any further arguments were dispelled when, in between them, Toph coughed. Aang gripped the bowl tightly, ready to spring into action, but Toph simply fell back down to the bed mat with renewed tears in her eyes. Katara felt her face soften as she stroked the girl's forehead. "Of course, Egg Drop soup. How could I forget, is there anything else you'd like?" She asked gently.

Toph shook her head. "No, just soup, and could you get Zuko?"

Katara nodded. "I'll go tell 'Cook' to make your soup and get Zuko, but Aang's going to have to come with me. Will you be okay until we get back? We'll leave the bowl with you in case you need it."

Toph dropped back onto the bed mat with a soft "yes," and wrapped Aang's blanket around her tighter as she shivered violently. Katara took the bowl from Aang's lap and placed it next to where Toph had curled into a ball before signaling for him to leave the room with her.

Sokka had managed to get to his feet outside but was still relying on the wall for support, and The Duke was sitting on what might have once been a statue but now resembled nothing more than a lump of moss. They both looked up as Katara left the room. Her mouth was drawn into a strict thin line and her eyes were bathed in concern.

"So, when did all of this start?" She asked. The three boys looked at each other before Aang stepped forward.

"I don't know, she just came to my room a few hours ago saying she felt sick and dizzy. I thought she just might have eaten too much. After a while she started saying weird things so I got Sokka because I thought he could help and I didn't want to worry you. But then she started puking and Sokka got sick too and Toph just couldn't stop throwing up so I got The Duke to go get you."

"I was getting a drink," The Duke supplied.

Katara nodded. "Okay, you three should go get some rest. Aang, there should be a spare bed mat in one of the empty dormitories."

"But what about Toph?" The Duke asked, sniffing the string of mucus that seemed to be perpetually hanging from his nose back up again.

"Toph will be fine," Katara assured him. Then she walked off, leaving The Duke, Sokka and Aang to make their own way through the halls of the temple as she made hers to the room of the Fire Nation Prince.

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_STORY NOTES_

_Weak: Sokka was portrayed as having a weak stomach at the birth of Hope in 'The Serpants pass' and while I'm certain this was just a stereotypical male reaction to childbirth I've decided to carry the trait on. _

_Hook line and sinker: My brother once accidendtly fell onto my grandfathers tackle box and ended up with at least four sparkly feathered Fish hooks stuck in his knee, it was not pretty. Fish hooks are designed to hold on to flesh and not come loose with the slightest tug, Long story short blood everywhere and an impromtu trip to the hospital. I imagaine that for Sokka getting two fish hooks in his thumb would have been just as bad, also an experience such as that would most definately be able to lead to a weak stomach in later life._

_Egg drop soup: This is a chinese dish served mainly at chinese resturants although versions of it exsist from all around the globe. The Chinese version consists mainly of beaten eggs, chicken broth and boiled water. It is a simple soup and additives vary from region to region. It is usually goven to the very young or old and the sick._

_I hope everyone had a happy holiday and betered the new year well. _

_Anyway that it for the first part of Tough Arc two Feel free to tell me what you think, I accept critisim just please be contructive and polite. Thank you to my lovely Beta Reader Saucebender and thank you for reading._

_Ari Out_


	15. arc two chapter 2

Tough arc two par two

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the last Airbender_

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Katara had long given up on trying to understand the vastness of the Western Air Temple. It wasn't like the other Air Temples she had been in. While the other Air Temples sat on the tops of mountains where everything was exposed and open to the elements, the Western Air Temple had been carved not only from the cliff edge but into it. Corridors wound their way through the rock face deeper than even Toph could tell. Katara didn't think she would ever get used to the architecture and she frequently found herself disorientated or even lost. And it annoyed her to no end that aside from the way to the fountain and her own room that the only other room she knew how to get to by heart was the room of a certain Fire Nation prince.

Zuko was obviously a heavy sleeper and he didn't stir as Katara entered his room. It was always impeccably tidy, and she supposed it was because of the time he had spent at sea. Katara had spent enough time on ships herself to know how things were done. There was a reason the words Ship Shape were used so frequently in reference to cleanliness.

Katara strode across the ceiling to Zuko's bed. The prince was asleep on his back with his blanket draped across his waist and his breathing deep and steady. His left arm was behind his head and his right one was hanging off the edge of the bed. It was beyond Katara how anyone could sleep so soundly on such an uncomfortable bed in a pagoda that might just decide halfway through the night that it had had enough of hanging from a cliff for more than a hundred years.

Katara reached her hand out, but before she could place it on Zuko's shoulder to shake him awake a rough hand enclosed itself around her wrist. A Dao sword was pointed at her stomach and two golden eyes were gazing into hers. Turns out Zuko wasn't as heavy a sleeper as Katara had thought.

His good eye widened as he realized that the person in front of him wasn't an enemy, but a rather annoyed looking Water Tribe girl.

"What are you doing here?" Zuko asked, lowering the sword and slackening his grip on Katara's wrist.

"Me? What are you doing?" she demanded, breaking completely out of the prince's grasp and glaring at him.

Zuko gave a humorless smile as he sat up, sheathing his sword. "Well you did threaten to kill me in my sleep, forgive me for being cautious."

"I never threatened to kill you in your sleep, I threatened to kill you in broad daylight," Katara corrected him.

Zuko nodded. "Right. So if you're not here to kill me, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Toph wants you."

Zuko raised his eyebrow in what Katara assumed was a questioning motion, though it could have been surprise or even shock. It was kind of hard to tell when he only had one. "You woke me up in the middle of the night because Toph wants me?"

"She's sick and delirious," Katara explained. "She thinks we have a cook and that you read to her and Aang when they get sick."

"Well why don't you just heal her then?" Zuko demanded.

"That's not how it works!" Katara said, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at Zuko. "I don't even know what's wrong with her, for all I know she's got some Fire Nation brain fever."

He glared back. "Well excuse me for not knowing the finer points of that glorified splashing you call bending."

Katara snarled and held a hand up, curling it slowly into a fist. "My glorified splashing can stop your heart in your chest and freeze the blood in your veins." She said, her voice as icy as she claimed his veins could be. She stood on the tips of her toes so she just matched his eye level.

Zuko forced his shoulders back and stood to his full height, giving him an inch on Katara. He leaned in closer to her without breaking eye contact and rasped, "And I can boil yours."

The two continued to stare fiercely at each other with scowls across their faces until finally Katara sank back down onto her heels. She glared at him again and turned away. "You know what, fine. I'm not doing this! I'll just tell Toph you were eaten by a four hundred foot tall purple platypus bear with pink horns and… I don't know, silver wings! The state she's in she'll probably believe that!"

Zuko let out a deep sigh and sat back down on his bed. "Why do we always fight?"

Katara paused from where she had been about to step through Zuko's doorway and turned back towards him with every intention of reminding him, because he had obviously forgotten, what exactly had taken place in the crystal catacombs beneath Ba Sing Se. But then she stopped and only stared at Zuko, his golden eyes filled with shame and obvious regret.

"It's exactly like before," he said. "I thought we were past this."

"I told you that I'm a long way from forgiving you."

"Longer than I thought..." Zuko muttered.

"Look," Katara demanded, "are you going to help Toph or not? If a purple platypus bear isn't your style I can always say you got eaten by a lion turtle." It didn't come out nearly as strict as she had intended it too. Instead her statement sounded almost like playful banter. Zuko gave a small smile and reached for his boots.

They didn't speak as they made their way through the temple, aside from Katara filling Zuko in on Toph's symptoms in he hope that he might be able to recognize a pattern. There was the chance she had come down with a Fire Nation illness. They were living in the middle of the jungle after all. Who knew what kinds of tropical fevers were floating around?

Toph was curled up in a tight ball on Aang's bed mat and shaking violently when the older benders returned to her. Katara swept into action immediately, leaving Zuko to stand in the doorway. She knelt at the younger girl's side and placed a hand against her forehead.

"Mom?" Toph asked, looking up. Her eyes seemed even brighter than before and her flushed cheeks stood out against the paleness of her skin.

Katara shook her head and moved her hand to cup her cheek gently. "No, it's Katara."

"Mom," Toph said again with a sense of confirmation and a slight nod.

Katara decided not to argue with her. "Toph, I bought Zuko with me, but it's going to be a while before your egg drop soup is ready." She pulled the threadbare blanket that had been around Toph's waist up to her shoulders as the girl shivered.

"I like egg drop soup," Toph said with a smile, lying back against the sack of Appa's fur that Aang had been using for a pillow. "No, I don't." The smile disappeared from Toph's face as she reached blindly for the wooden bowl sitting beside her bed mat.

Zuko entered the room in a flash of red and black and before Katara could even register what was happening, he had taken the bowl from where it sat just out of Toph's reach and held it under her chin as she gagged, bile dribbling down her chin. Zuko rubbed her back gently.

"Okay, that's better isn't it, little Badger Mole?"

"Mmm, not a badger mole," Toph mumbled, slumping back down onto the sack of Appa's fur.

"What are you then?" Zuko asked, gently placing the bowl to the side.

"Mm, the greatest Earthbender in the world," Toph announced weakly.

Zuko nodded before Toph burst into a fit of coughing. In the blink of an eye Zuko had propped her up in his arms and Katara was at her side with the bowl poised under her chin. But instead of throwing up Toph kept coughing and gasping for breath. After fifteen minutes the coughing stopped, but the gasping didn't.

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_STORY NOTES_

_Bloodbending: While Hama developed this technique simply as a way of controlling the blood within a persons body there are of course many other things a Waterbender could do with the water in the blood. Such as Freezing it. This would cause Death as the blood would no longer flow and the heart would stop. I have no doubt that Katara could do it. _

_Boiling: Blood boils at the same tempreture as water ,100 degrees celcius. I don't know if a firebender could intentionaly boil someones blood while it was still inside the body but the possibilty exsists. _

_Okay that's all for now I hope you're enjoying reading this story as much as I'm enjoying writting it. Also I have a compertiton for you guys: I will write a Drabble/oneshot for whomever can correctly guess what Toph is suffering from. I think I've given enough symptoms for a diagnoses. If you think you have an idea send me a Private message and I'll get back to you. Feel free to look stuff up if you can't guess of the top of your head._

_Anyway a big thanks to my Beta Reader Saucebender (If you haven't read her story 'A spirit's day song' you should give it a look)_

_Ari out_


	16. Arc Two chapter 3

Tough arc two chapter three

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender_

Toph's eyes widened in fear and confusion as she continued to gasp, trying desperately to catch oxygen in her lungs. Zuko hastily propped her up against him even higher and began undoing the clasps of her leather belt, removing it from her waist.

"Go get the wok from the balcony and fill it with water," he ordered Katara before turning his attention back to Toph. He rubbed her back and told her to calm down and take deep breaths. "In through your nose and out through your mouth, like this."

He began demonstrating the technique as Katara left the room and made her way once again through the halls of the temple taking double strides as she went. It didn't take her long to reach the balcony.

During the day the balcony was alive as the residents of the temple came and went, taking drinks from the fountain and gathering for meals. When it was too hot to do anything else, the fountain became a swimming hole, with everyone taking a spot in the cool, flowing water. At night however, it was entirely different. The Fountain cast a distorted, eerie shadow across the paving stones. Katara strode over to where her cooking pots and pans were piled together near the fire pit and, after shifting everything around, she managed to pull out the wok that usually sat somewhere near the bottom of the pile. It was a large wok with dents across it from when Teo had clipped the side with his rear left wheel, and from when Toph and Aang had thrown rocks into it from one of the temple's upturned pagoda roofs. But despite all the dents, which Katara knew had not all been caused by wheelchairs and rocks, the wok could still hold water.

Not bothering to return everything to their rightful places, Katara took the wok to the fountain and dipped it into the water, pulling it out when it was full and freezing it over. She didn't have the time to take steady steps on her way back to Aang's room. So with the Wok balanced in her arms. Katara ran from the balcony.

Toph was still struggling to breathe when Katara made it back to the room. Zuko had eased her up against the wall into a sitting position and was still encouraging her to use the breathing technique he had demonstrated.

"Zuko, I've got the water," Katara said, striding into the room.

"Good, bring it here," Zuko ordered, holding out his arms to accept the wok. Katara unfroze it and carefully transferred it to the Fire Prince. Zuko took the wok, placing his hands under it and heating them. Slowly, steam began to rise off the surface of the water, filling the room in curling tendrils of moisture. Zuko removed his shirt and rolled it up before gently pulling Toph away from the wall and placing it behind her. The young Earthbender settled back down against it, her breathing slowly becoming less strained.

"Zuko, can I have a story now?" she asked, her voice weak.

Zuko gave a slight smile and sat down, crossing his legs over each other. He placed the wok of water in his lap and kept his hands heated around it. Katara knelt down across from Zuko and set about pulling the blanket that had fallen down to Toph's waist up around her shoulders in an effort to ward off the chills that were still racking the girl's body. Katara frowned as her hand brushed against the skin of Toph's arm, she was burning up. The waterbender1 drew a stream of water from the wok in Zuko's lap and moulded2 it to her hand like a glove. She cooled it before pressing it against Toph's forehead. The girl sighed in obvious relief, settling back down against Aang's pillow and Zuko's shirt as the prince3 began his story.

"I'm not, uh… very good at telling stories..."

"Yes you are," Toph said, "you tell them all the time."

"Uh… right. Well, anyway, this is an old story my uncle used to tell me, it's about three brothers4 who lived in a small fishing village. I mean a really small fishing village. You know, the ones where everyone knows everyone else?"

"No," Toph said as Katara said, "Yes."

_Well… yeah, one of those villages. Anyway, these three brothers were always lying and people would always call them out on their lies because they were just so unbelievable. They could barely make it through a sentence without someone saying, 'you're lying.'_

_Okay, so one day these three brothers were traveling far from their village when they came across a prince. He was traveling to, uh… well, I forget where he was going but all that matters is that he was a prince. He was covered in jewels and wearing the finest robes any of the brothers had ever seen. The ring on his little finger alone was worth more than the village the three brothers had grown up in. The three brothers wanted to have such riches, so they came up with a plan to trick the prince._

_They approached the prince and told him, "All of us will tell each other stories about our pasts and if anyone doubts what the other is saying he will become the other's slave."_

_The prince agreed to this plan and even ordered a member of his precession to act as a judge for the competition._

_The eldest brother went first. 'When I was a small boy,' he began, 'I played Hide and Explode with my brothers. One day I decided to hide up the tallest tree in our village. My two brothers spent all day searching for me but as night fell they gave up and went home. Only then, as I began to get hungry, did I realize I was stuck. The only way I could get down from the tree was with a rope. So I went to the old man who lived nearest to the tree and asked if I could borrow a rope. Then I climbed down from the tree and went home.'_

_When the eldest brother had finished his story the prince said he believed every word of it. Well actually, he didn't really say anything and by not saying it wasn't true he was saying that he thought it was true and, well… yeah. Anyway it was now the middle brother's turn to tell a story._

_"While my older brother was hiding up in the tree I searched the jungle surrounding our village for him. I saw something run into the bushes and, thinking it was my brother, I followed it. But it wasn't my brother, it was a huge Komodo tiger. He opened his mouth, ready to eat me, but I jumped inside and crawled down his throat into his stomach before he could bite me. While I was in the stomach of the Komodo tiger I started jumping up and down and yelling as loud as I could. I frightened the Komodo tiger so much that he spat me out with so much force that I flew hundreds of feet into the air and landed back in the middle of my village. I was only a young boy yet I had saved my entire village because the beast never came near my village again"_

_Again the prince didn't say anything. Well he did say that he thought the middle brother was pretty brave but he didn't say anything to about the story being false._

_Now it was the youngest brother's turn and he knew that he would have to tell a really tall tale if he and his two brother's were going to win the competition._

_"One day when I was small I was walking along the banks of the river and all the fishermen of my village were sitting next to it unhappily. So I asked them why they all seemed so sad. They told me that none of them had caught a fish in a week. So I told them I would help. I dived into the water and turned into a fish. I swam around into the water Until I came across a giant fish that had eaten all the smaller fish in the river. When he saw me the giant fish tried to eat me but I turned back into a human and cut the fish open with my knife. All the fish that he had eaten escaped from his stomach and swam right into the waiting nets of the Fishermen."_

_The youngest brother finished his story and once again the prince said nothing. So now all three brothers had told their stories and it was time for the prince to tell his._

_"I am a prince," he said. "I have great wealth and many palaces but I am traveling so far from them because I am searching for three slaves who have escaped from me. I have searched across the entire nation but now my search has come to an end because I have found my missing slaves, you!"_

_What could the three brothers say? If they said the prince was lying they'd loose the competition and would have to become his slaves, but if they didn't they would still end up as slaves to the prince. In the end they said nothing and the soldier who had been judging the competition declared the prince to be the winner... I think, I mean the brothers didn't say the prince was lying so he didn't actually win... but anyway, the prince showed mercy to the three brothers and let them go home, but he made them promise to never again tell tall tales. And so from then on the three brothers were known for their honesty._

Zuko finished his story and directed all the attention he had put into trying to remember it towards Toph. Somewhere over the course of the story she had fallen asleep. Her breathing, while still laboured, was steady and she continued to shake with the chills racking her body.

Katara made to remove Zuko's shirt and Aang's pillow from behind Toph so she could lie down, but before she could Zuko's voice, hoarse from talk stopped her.

"Don't."

Katara snapped her gaze up to him. "Why not? She'll be more comfortable lying down and it's important she rests."

"She won't be able to breathe as well lying down, trust me." Zuko sent another burst of heat through his hands to the wok he was still holding, causing a fresh layer of steam to rise out of the water.

"Why did you tell me to get that water, I mean how did you know it would help?" Katara asked.

"When I was little my sister's friends used to come and stay at the palace and Mai..."

"The gloomy girl who sighs a lot?"

"Uh yeah, her. Anyway, Mai used to get short of breath sometimes if she did to much. Asthma, was what the court doctors called it. Anyway, whenever she got short of breath the servants used to put her in the steam rooms and that would help." Zuko explained.

Katara frowned. "Well she certainly didn't need any time outs the last time I fought her."

"No, she must have outgrown it." Zuko trailed off, casting his glance downwards towards the sleeping twelve year old. He used his knuckles to sweep a strand of hair behind her ear. "She outgrew a lot of things while I was away."

"What happened?" Katara asked suddenly. Zuko looked up suddenly and held her gaze.

"Why were you away? I mean you don't have to answer, I just, well… you talked about being the banished prince, cursed to chase the Avatar. What happened?" Katara tried to keep her voice level and not reveal that the question was to her anything more than a casual curiosity.

"I spoke out against my father and dishonoured myself by refusing to duel him over it," Zuko said lowly, bringing a hand up to his scar and pushing lightly against the damaged skin. He wondered why after all these years he still expected to feel any sort of sensation.

"Your father scarred and banished you as a punishment?" Katara said incredulously.

Punishment was something that Katara had never experienced in her youth. Children in the Water Tribe were traditionally coddled, shown nothing but love and indulged in everything. Katara still had a small scar across her palm from when as a child she had asked her father if she could play with his skinning knife and Hakoda had obliged. She learnt to be wary around sharp objects after that. Sokka had wounds of his own from a similar learning curve. The idea of punishment in itself was foreign to her but the kind of punishment Zuko had received was just incomprehensible.

As if somehow knowing what she was thinking, which he admittedly did whenever the subject of his scar came up (people always wore the same expression) Zuko tuned his gaze back to Katara and said, "It doesn't matter, my father had to banish me and give me this mark. To be honest, it was the best thing he ever did for me." He chuckled slightly in an entirely non humorous way.

Katara gazed at him sadly. Felling all of a sudden a strange need to reach out and caress the burnt skin but before she got the chance to do anything other than lift her hand Toph awoke retching.

Katara clasped her hands firmly around the wooden bowl sitting beside her ready to thrust under the younger girls chin as Zuko moved to lift Toph up into a fully seated position. But neither of them were quick enough and Toph was sick all over herself. She shook and sobbed pitifully as Zuko plucked her up from her bed mat so Katara could bundle it up with the ruined blanket and dispose of it. There was no point in keeping them, there were plenty of spare bed mats and blankets in the empty dormitories. So with a few swift orders to keep Toph warm while she was gone, Katara set off, leaving Zuko standing in the middle of Aang's room still cradling the earthbender in his arms and trying to keep a tight hold on her while she shivered. Worry clenched in his gut with every noise and movement Toph made. He felt so absolutely helpless as he tried to comfort the sick girl. She looked up at him with bright sightless eyes and cheeks so red it looked as if someone had slapped them repeatedly.

"Hurts," she muttered blearily, burying her head into Zuko's chest shivering violently.

He held her tighter, trying his hardest to ignore the vomit that clung to Toph's tunic while desperately wishing for Katara to return.

It was probably only a few minutes but it seemed like an eternity before the Water Tribe girl returned with a new bed mat tucked under one arm and a pile of blankets stacked on the other along with a set of red clothes. She set about lying the new bed mat down where the old one had been and placing the blankets across it before turning to Toph who was still cradled in Zuko's arms.

"Okay," Katara said gently, walking up to them and brushing a lock of hair out of Toph's face. "Let's get you out of those clothes."

Toph mumbled something and Katara turned her face towards Zuko. "You're going to have to hold Toph up so I can undress her."

Zuko nodded and as gently as he could he repositioned Toph in his arms so that her feet were on the ground but of all her weight was on Zuko. The former prince averted his eyes as Katara began to unclasp the catches of Toph's tunic. She took a hold on the younger girl's wrist to slip the tunic off but before she could Toph let out a blood curdling scream and fainted.

_STORY NOTES_

_Steaming: Steam can help with shortness of breath. My sister had bronchitis as a child and for the longest time no doctor would give her an inhaler to help with the breathing problems she developed, so whenever she got short of breath I used to have to put her in the bathroom close all the doors and windows and turn the shower and all the hot taps onto full. The Steam would help settle her breathing down_

_Tall tales: Zuko's story is a traditional folk tale from Burma (Myanmar) Aside from the obviuos references to Avatar I have left the original story unchanged._

_Mai and Asthma: I am doubtfull that Mai actually has Asthma, but it is not unlikely comsidering her upbringing. Experts believe that asthma can be caused by low resistance to dust and other such elements, and that it is increasing because of peoples desire to have impecably clean homes. I believe Mai's parents would have insisted on keeping their household in such a state and from what Mai has told us of her chilhood it seems unlikely she was allowed to take part in normal outdoor play. Making her vunerable to the components in the air that can cause asthma. _

_Growing up: While it is impossible to outgrow asthma completely many people have stated that their symptoms and attacks lessened as they reached adolenscence, almost dissapearing completely, only to be triggered by extreme circumstances. _

_Water tribe: The Water Tribe is based as many people know on the Inuit culture of the the arctic. Traditionally the Inuits indluged their children. Punishment was not something, they as a people were recorded to believe in. Positive reinforcement, as Katara would say._

_Okay people last call here, no one was able to guess Toph's illness in the last chapter and next chapter it becomes obviuos. The compertition still stands, if you can correctly guess what it is Toph is Sufferig from I will write you a oneshot (So long as it's not M rated, I don't think I would be comfortable or even confident enough to write anything of an M nature) So PM me with your best Guesses!_

_A big thank you to my amazing Beta reader Saucebender for editing this chapter for me._

_As always tell me what you think, what you like and what you didn't, I accept critism just pelase be constructive and polite_

_Ari Out_


	17. Arc Two chapter 4

Tough arc two part four

_I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender_

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Despite the fact that all of Toph's weight had been on him before she collapsed Zuko still had to take a step backwards to keep his balance as Toph fainted. He looked down at her pale face suddenly feeling like he should be doing something other than standing there with a sick girl in his arms. But what should he do instead? What could he do? He turned his gaze almost desperately towards Katara in the hopes that somehow she would know.

Katara was calm. Very very calm, calmer than Zuko thought anyone should be in such a situation. She pressed to fingers firmly against Toph's left temple for several seconds before nodding and withdrawing them. She then enclosed her hand around Toph's wrist, testing the joint.

"It's not broken" She observed with a frown before turning to Zuko. Even her expression was deathly calm to the point her lack of expression save from the steely glint of determination in her eyes could rival even Mai's.

"You're going to have to help me get her into her Fire Nation clothes"

She said simply in a voice laced with steely determination reorganising the bundle of red cloth in her arms.

"What about her wrist shouldn't we look at that first." Zuko asked but Katara shook her head.

"No that can wait until she's in clean clothes" She enclosed her hand around Toph's wrist again and began to gently manoeuvre the unconscious girls arm out of her Tunic. It took the two of them several minutes to undress Toph Fully. Zuko kept his gaze focused on a crumbling portion of the rooms ceiling, or rather, floor as Katara stripped the young earthbender down to her undergarments. She then set about redressing her in a one piece outfit consisting of a pair of bright red fishermans pants and a bolt of cloth that Zuko knew was supposed to be wrapped around the torso to make a shirt.

The bright red of the fabric against her skin made Toph look even paler, Zuko noticed as Katara peeled the blanket back so he could lay Toph down on the bed mat underneath. He tried his hardest to be gentle as he transferred her from his arms onto the bed mat, it wasn't as easy as Zuko had thought it would be. Toph was pretty much a dead weight and threatened to spill completely out of his arms and onto the bed mat which provided little cushioning from the stone ceiling beneath it. Finally after repositioning her several times Zuko finally managed to lay Toph down on the woven mat. Katara quickly covered her with blankets and from somewhere within her robes produced a scrap of dark red material. She drew a stream of water from one of her pouches and soaked the material through, she then lay it across Toph's forehead before busying herself removing the leather cuff on Toph's wrist.

"I didn't know you had Fire Nation clothing" Zuko said eager to somehow break through the tension enveloping the room. Katara made a 'hmph' noise in the back of her throat as she looked up from Toph's wrist to cast a severe gaze over Zuko who began to rapidly regret saying anything.

"Well how do you think we managed to get across the Fire Nation without anyone noticing?" She rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Toph's wrist. But not before she managed to catch a glimpse of Zuko's crestfallen face. Well perhaps crestfallen wasn't the best term to describe the look on The princes face. Katara supposed that if a sigh could be a facial expression it would match the one currently on Zuko's face. She felt suddenly petty and even pathetic like a god among insects.

Zuko was just trying to be nice, and if not that civil in the least and she was just rebutting him at every turn. And normally Katara would have been completely okay with that. She hated Zuko, that wasn't about to change and he deserved every inch of loathing she held for him, the traitor. But Zuko's civility wasn't for her, it was for Toph. Toph with her slap coloured cheeks and paler than snow skin. Toph who thought Zuko read to her and had a cook. And Katara supposed for the sake of Toph, she too could be civil.

"I" She began glancing back up at Zuko briefly before returning her attentions to Toph's cuff, she knew there was a way to get the damned thing off but she just couldn't find it.

"I don't really have my Fire Nation clothes any more, well I mean I still _have_ them, they just don't really resemble clothes any more. I had this beautiful silk skirt and shirt but I picked them apart for cloth and thread and there was this thing, I don't know what it was really, that went over the skirt. It was stitched with gold thread, real gold thread so I picked it out and sold it for rice. It wasn't worth as much as I though it would be" Katara shrugged

"Gold is pretty common here, it wouldn't be" Zuko explained remembering that every item of clothing that went to Katara for mending was returned with red patches and thread.

"I suppose if we ever had to hide out in plain view again, I could sew them back together but it would take forever and I'd probably end up looking like a patchwork doll" Katara almost broke into laughter when she remembered who she was talking too. Zuko was not someone you shared casual jokes with. She focused her attentions once again on removing Toph's cuff frowning as she realised just how easy it had been to forget she hated Zuko and joke casually with him.

She ran her fingers across the hard cracked leather and skimmed them gently against where the leather joined the the thick metal band. How did Toph even manage to get these on? Katara grit her teeth, enough was enough. She took a firm grasp around Toph's wrist and yanked on the cuff. It took Katara several tries before the cuff finally started to move. Toph whimpered and began to writhe on the bed mat, her body slipping back into it's pattern of shaking.

"Zuko hold her so I can get this off!" Katara barked struggling to keep a steady hold on Toph's wrist.

Zuko half expected Toph to awaken screaming as he knelt down and drew her once again into his arms wrapping them securely around her spasming body and bracing her against his chest, holding her tightly like she was made of dust and would be cast away into the wind the minute he slackened his hold even the slightest. He buried his head almost desperately into Toph's mass of dark hair whispering for her to calm down. Stop it Badger Mole let Katara help you. Stop it now. You're scaring us Badger Mole. You're scaring us.

Katara held on to Toph's wrist with a savage determination forcing it to stay steady though the rest of her body shook uncontrollably in Zuko's arms. She continued to force The cuff down . The leather of Toph's cuff was old and cracked, it creaked as Katara tugged it as hard as she could over the bones of Toph's wrist and onto her hands.

Toph's hands were hot, even when compared to the rest of her feverish skin. They were coated in a layer of sweat that provided enough in the way of lubricant for Katara to pull the cuff down over Toph's hand in several short yanks leaving Toph's wrist bare and revealing a web of bloody tendrils and splotches curling underneath her skin all spreading out from a large oozing cut on the top of her hand.

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_STORY NOTES_

_Fishermans pants: Originating in Thailand, a country I admittedly liken to the Fire Nation Fishermans pants are of course named for the fisherman who traditionally wore them although they are now worn around the world. They are genrally one size fits all as the waist can be adjusted by wrapping the unused cloth around the wearer like a sash or top and Toph's fire nation pants bare a strong resemblence to them. _

_Gold: Gold does seem to be somewhat common in the firenation, so I assume the worth of it there wouldn't be as high as it would be in other parts of the Avatar World._

_Cuffs: Seriously I can't be the only one who looks at Toph's cuffs and think, how in the Spirit World does she get those things on?_

_Sceptecimia: Okay dear readers all bets are off and I am sorry to say not one of you was able to guess what Toph was suffering from. Honorable mentions do go to those who said Food Poisoning and altidude sickness but neither was correct. Toph is suffering from Sceptecimia, blood poisoning due to an infected cut on her hand. In anceint and indeed even recent times one of the biggest causes of death in times of war wasn't due to the actual injuries one sustained, but rather due to the onset of infection in unsterialsed wounds. Even a small cut like Toph has could lead to a life threatening illness. I figure Toph's a tough cookie she probably wouldn't ask for first aid on a tiny shrapenel cut on her hand, and in the heat and humidity of the Fire Nation infection would set in quickly._

_Anyway, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all, for my present I'd like one Hundred reveiws on this story, pretty please, I'm like two off the mark!_

_Anyway I apologuise for taking so long to get this up, real life has been pretty hectic for me lately._

_Tell me what you think I accept Critism just pease be constructive and polite._

_Ari Out!_


	18. Arc Two chapter 5

Tough arc two part five.

Welcome to 'Tough arc two part five' also known as 'I waited over half a year for this and all I get is this crappy chapter' I'll try to be more regular with my updates in future.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender

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A gasp burst from her lips before Katara could even think to hold it back and cross from her Zuko's good eye widened as he tightened his grip on the unconscious girl. Realization and deep horror burned within it and Katara knew it was in her eyes too.

They had both seen this before.

The thin tendrils of blood spread out across Toph's hand in an elaborate pattern twisting and curling , sinister routes on a map of flesh, spreading out from cities of pus filled sores sitting just beneath the skin.

"Can," Zuko's voice was heavy and strained, almost like he was trying not to choke on his words. He took a deep breath his chest rising and falling before continuing.

"Can you heal her?"

Katara raised her eyes to meet Zuko's briefly before lowering them again.

She shook her head.

And suddenly Zuko was angry.

"What do you mean you can't?" He yelled. Katara didn't yell back keeping her eyes downcast she simply said "I could heal the wound but not the infection in her blood" Her voice was hollow, defeated. And as quickly as it had come Zuko's anger dissipated.

"Can you draw it out of her, like you did when I got bitten?"  
"It's not the same, there's too much of it and I don't think I could separate it from her blood"

Katara seemed to shrink as she spoke, like her words were weights pressing down on her. Things that couldn't be unsaid. The Tears she had been keeping dammed up behind her eyes spilled over and down her cheeks. She was overcome with the urge to snatch Toph out of Zuko's arms and cradle her in her own.

"There, there's nothing I can do" She whispered. And then Aang dropped down from the the vines that draped and looped across the floor landing in a graceful crouch on the ceiling.

In the years it had been abandoned the jungle that surrounded the Western Air Temple had all but over taken it. There was vegetation everywhere, vines hung from the floor in nearly every room, and most of the Temple was completely inaccessible because of the massive tree roots splitting through the stone work and blocking passages.

It would have been all to easy for an Airbender to access these vines and hang from them while observing what was happening below him unseen. And it was clear from the expression on his face that Aang did not like what he had observed.

"What do you mean there's nothing you can do?"

He demanded in a tone that Katara was all to familiar with, a tone that suggested if his chakra's weren't blocked Aang would be in the Avatar State. Katara didn't even try to placate him, she simply bowed her head and let Aang's barrage sweep over her.

"You're giving up on her? You're a healer and she's hurt, so fix her!"

A gust of wind howled through the corridors as Aang yelled and the entire Temple seemed to sway with it.

"Aang" Zuko said gently but with a tight authority Katara had only heard before in the voice of her father. Aang however was beyond listening to his teacher.

"You're Katara you fix everything. So fix her!"

The world all of a sudden seemed very small, like everything she knew was collapsing around her, the walls were closing in. Heat uncomfortable and inescapable surged through her veins and Katara knew she couldn't just couldn't be here any more. Before she even really knew what she was doing she had sprung to her feet and was half way down the empty hallway.

Katara didn't know where she was running too only what she was running from. Toph pale and weak with poisoned blood, Aang like a storm. And she just couldn't be there, not when Toph's cheeks looked like someone had slapped them repeatedly and Aang's gray eyes were a turbulent swirl of disappointment, accusation and betrayal.

The night air around her was cool but it did nothing to alleviate the heat she felt spreading through her bones or to settle the sudden sick ache that blossomed in the pit of her stomach. Her bare feet, she hadn't bothered to put her boots on when the Duke had woken her earlier before the world started to crumble around her ears, slapped rhythmically against the ceiling in a beat that was almost but not quite soothing.

She ran through the abandoned hallways as fast as her feet could carry her until she exploded out from the inner corridors of the ancient temple onto an unfamiliar balcony. Moonlight bared down from the expanse of sky that existed somewhere beyond the walls of the chasm in a thin ribbon barely illuminating the gigantic forms of three Air Nuns carved out from the rock face.

Katara all but collapsed against a giant toe her knee's buckled beneath her and she slumped against the structure, sinking steadily until she sat on the smooth stone floor. And then she wept. Large heart wrenching sobs that made her feel sick in the pit of her stomach and continued long after her eyes had literally run dry.

She stayed there kneeling in despair at the literal foot of the statue nearly choking on the sobs she couldn't seem to stop herself from making for what seemed like an eternity, but couldn't have been more than an hour. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, she wanted to run away from everything, she wanted to march right back into that temple and force Toph to get better through sheer force of will. But most of all Katara just wanted her mother.

Her mother to hold her in her arms and tell her everything was alright, nothing wrong was going to happen. Toph, she then thought as a wave of nausea crashed on her, Toph probably wanted her mother too.

'She called you her mother'

Katara thought suddenly a fresh sob catching in her throat.

'Toph thought you were her mother' The notion caused a new wave of guilt to slam into her gut. Katara had never felt so useless in her entire life.

But the feeling didn't last to long as without a sound Zuko emerged onto the balcony. His swords were strapped to his back and his face was like cold hard steel and he said in a voice that matched it perfectly.

"We're fixing this"

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_STORY NOTES_

_Bloodbending: Being that this technique was really only explained in one episode (Where Katara kicked so much ass) not a lot is known about bloodbending and all of the uses it could have. In arc one I had Katara use bloodbending to remove vemon from Zuko's bloodstream but it must be said that there was considerably less Venom in Zuko's sytem then there is infection if Toph's._

_Wuss: Why do I always seem to turn Katara into a crybaby, I hate Katara as a crybaby. I prefer kickass tough katara who takes no crap from anybody._

_Okay that's all for now I'm sorry I've been away for so long and that this is so short. You may have noticed that the past few chapters suffer from my characteristic poor spelling and punction. That is because my lovely and talented beta reader, Saucebender is M.I.A. Sauce if you're reading this please P.M me every time I try to P.M you my computor freezes and I have to restart. _

_I accept critism just please be constructive and polite._

_Ari out!_


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